


Catch your reflection

by yukitsubute



Category: Arashi (Band), Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: M/M, None - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-10-13 14:27:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10515609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yukitsubute/pseuds/yukitsubute
Summary: When Jun gets a mysterious message written on the mirror, he and his roommate Aiba start searching for a guy who seems to be in danger. And their first way leads them to a mysterious magical shop …





	1. Chapter 1

Jun stood in the bathroom. The steam surrounded him, but he didn’t care. He loved the hot water on his skin after a long working day.  
  
Jun froze when he suddenly saw letters appearing on the mirror right above the sink. _Help me! -_ was written on there. “Masaki,” Jun yelled out.  
  
He waited till the door got open and his stunned and slightly worried flatmate stood there looking at him. “What happened?” He asked. Jun didn’t even care that he was still naked, in the end the other had seen him various times like this, and Jun had never been shy.  
  
“Was this you?” He pointed at the mirror, but the letters were gone.  
  
“What?” Masaki stepped closer and looked at the mirror. “What was me?”  
  
Jun blinked. He looked closer at the mirror brushing his fingers over it. “I swear there was a writing on it.” He shook his head. Was he really going insane here? Okay, Jun had worked a lot during the last months, but he still felt good and not a tiny bit exhausted.  
  
Masaki stepped closer and placed his hand on Jun’s forehead. “You don’t have fever. Do I need to worry about you?”  
  
“There,” Jun yelled out. He didn’t even answer to Masaki’s words and just pointed at the foggy mirror where small letters appeared again. “Please, help me,” was written on there again.  
  
Masaki jumped backwards till he bumped into the washing machine. “Oh god.”  
  
“See?” Jun said. “I am not insane.” Jun turned to the other, who was looking pale.  
  
“That’s like in a horror movie,” Masaki gulped. “That’s creepy, Jun. If you are making fun of me here, please stop it. You know I don’t like horror settings.”  
  
Jun rolled his eyes. “And you know that I already get afraid when I read children ghost stories. So why should I scare you?”  
  
Masaki tilted his head. “Okay, but then … what does that mean?”   
  
Jun looked at the letters again – he had no idea what that meant. “Do you think that someone is playing a trick on us? Or is there really someone asking for help?”  
  
Masaki stepped closer. “Do you think that there is really someone asking for help?”  
  
“I am not sure, but if it’s no joke we should do something?” Jun half asked. He knew how this sounded. What should they do when a mirror was asking for help? No one would ever believe this story.  
  
“Wait a moment,” Masaki said. He touched Jun’s shoulder. “I call Satoshi. He is a horror movie fan, maybe he can tell us what we should do in this case.”  
  
Jun pulled one eyebrow up. “You know how this sounds?” He sighed. No one would ever believe that story.  
  
“Like we are crazy?” Masaki scratched his head. “Or like we want to play a trick on someone?”  
  
“Yes, or both,” Jun said.  
  
“Hey, how about asking the mirror who he is?” Masaki suggested. Now Jun had to laugh. That really sounded weird and he hoped that no one was listening to them right now. That really sounded like a prank.  
  
In the end Jun nodded at the other and stepped to the mirror. “How shall I ask? Or what?”  
  
Masaki stepped next to him, his hands resting on the sink. He seemed to think about it. “I once saw a horror drama – don’t ask any further, it was horrible and I just watched it because the guy who wanted to watch it had been rather hot  - and there they wrote the questions they had on the mirror.”  
  
Jun looked from Masaki to the mirror and back again. “Are you sure?”  
  
Masaki shrugged. “Don’t know. Try it.”  
  
“You know that sounds so stupid, right?” Jun asked again. He just wanted to make sure that he wasn’t the only one thinking that he was going crazy.  
  
“I know, but there are strange letters on our mirror, and I think that’s already crazy enough.” Masaki leaned closer to the mirror to take a closer look at the letters, which already faded.  
  
Jun stretched his arm and started writing ‘who are you’ on the mirror. They waited some moments, and Jun already thought that it was senseless till he could see other letters appearing under his. “I am Sakurai Sho,” Jun read out loud.  
  
“Creepy.” Masaki breathed out. Jun looked at his friend. He really was far too relaxed, because Jun was already about to burst. He had the feeling that the fear mixed with curiosity and excitement made him almost throw up.  
  
“How can you stay so calm?” Jun finally whined.  
  
“I am far away from calm, I just try not to scream out loud,” Masaki said. He poked Jun’s side. “Look, look,” he added.  
  
Jun stared at the mirror where further letters started appearing. “Please, help me.” He let his finger dance over the mirror again.  
  
_Where are you?_ Jun had written on there. Jun’s heart beat faster and he could see Masaki shifting nervously next to him.  
  
“Do you really want to go and search for this guy when you know his location? I mean … don’t you think it’s dangerous? Or … I don’t know … stupid?” Masaki asked.  
  
“Do you have a better idea?” Jun asked.  
  
“Don’t know, ignoring it?” Aiba suggested.  
  
Yeah, they could do this, but wasn’t their life all about an everyday routine? Wouldn’t it be nice to experience an adventure? “Our life is boring, Masaki. We stand up in the morning, go to work, come back home, eat something, go to bed … maybe this would be a nice variety.”  
  
Masaki looked at him with eyes wide open. His voice got a little higher than usual. “If you want to do something adventurous than let’s go to ride the rollercoaster or maybe we can bungee jump or so? But searching for … whoever and whatever this is … I don’t know.”  
  
They could do this, but something in Jun wanted this adventure. He grasped for Masaki’s shoulder when another sentence appeared on the mirror. _No time, Ninomiya’s shop of magic horror._  
Masaki sighed. “Okay, I guess it’s senseless to discuss something with you, what you’ve already decided in your mind.” Masaki poked with his finger on Jun’s forehead. “So what’s your plan? What shall we do with this information?”  
  
Jun smiled at his friend. He knew that Masaki couldn’t refuse a request. “Do you know a shop with this name?”  
  
Masaki tilted his head from left to right. “No, never heard of it, but wait a minute.” Masaki rushed out of the room and came back a few moments later with his tablet in his hands. “Here.” He handed Jun the item. Jun scrolled down the website. “Ninomiya’s shop of magic horror – here’s the place you find your very special horror magic,” Jun read out loud. “Come and visit me.” He continued.  
  
He turned to Masaki. “The shop is half an hour outside of Tokyo.” Jun smiled. “Are you free tomorrow?”  
  
“Do I have a choice?” Masaki sighed.  
  
“Nope.” Jun shook his head. “You are bound to the ‘best-friend-needs-to-do-everything-together-contract’.”  
  
“I already guessed something like that.” Masaki rolled his eyes, but Jun was sure that Masaki liked this adventure. Solving riddles had always been Masaki and Jun’s hobby since they had been children.  
  
Jun had to smile. “What are you thinking about?” Masaki asked.  
  
“Can you remember the racoon-egg-mystery we solved when we had been children?”  
  
Masaki giggled. “The fabulous MasaJun detective office solved every case till now – even the riddle about the two racoons stealing eggs from Matsumoto manor.”  
  
Jun and Masaki grew up together in a small town not far away from Tokyo. Since childhood they had stuck together and their plan to make an own detective office was one of a few ideas they had. In the end Jun had studied law while Masaki had become a kindergarten teacher, but one thing never changed: they were still friends, and because none of them earned a lot of money, they shared an apartment together, which was cheaper for them, and they weren’t that lonely in the big town.  
  
“And now the fabulous detectives will be back in their biggest case, a horror case …” Jun chuckled, but he felt a cold shiver running down his spine when he thought that this could really get a horror story.  
  
~~~  
  
Jun watched the trees and houses passing outside.  
  
“He sells magic cards and …. I don’t know.” Masaki brushed his finger over the tablet. “Herbs?” He showed Jun the picture of a small bottler with certain leaves in it.  
  
Jun took the tablet and enlarged the picture. “It seems so,” Jun murmured. He clicked on the link ‘about me’ and scrolled down to read the short summary about the owner. “There is not really much information about the owner on his page.”  
  
Masaki nodded at him. “I know. He seems to sell toys or something like this, but this website is somehow … strange?”  
  
Jun agreed. It was indeed strange. There was a small picture of this Ninomiya-guy. Jun clicked on it to make it larger. “He has mysterious eyes, don’t you think?” Jun looked up at his friend.  
  
Jun giggled when he saw Masaki blushing. He knew his best friend so well. “He’s your type, right?”  
  
“Hey, I don’t know him, and beside that, it’s unfair. Just because you don’t have a certain type of guy you like, and you are more like a riddle wrapped up in an enigma,” Masaki complained. It made Jun laugh out loud. “Not fair,” Masaki grumbled and grasped the tablet to place it in his bag.  
  
“I am not that mysterious, Masaki,” Jun still laughed. But somehow Masaki was right, Jun hadn’t a certain type of guy he liked. His last boyfriend had been rather short and blonde, the one before had been dark haired and tall.  
  
“You are,” Masaki said. “You are one big mystery, Jun-pon.” Masaki chuckled happily.  
  
“And you are stupid,” Jun said, joining the laughter.  
  
~~~  
  
He tried to fight against the chains around his wrists. His breath was already slow and he could feel the stinging pain in his face. He licked with this tongue over his lips, tasting the blood around his mouth. He looked around. The small cellar he was locked in let just small patterns of light in the room. It was dusty and cold in this room.  
  
His mouth was dry and he wished for nothing more than a bottle of water. He looked up at the mirror on the other side of the room. He blinked when he felt his sight getting blurry. He fought against fainting and shook his head slightly to get back to his senses.  
  
He looked up and concentrated on the mirror. He could see thin lines appearing there and suddenly a face appeared in the mirror. Sho smiled. He had no idea who it was, but he needed to try contacting him.  
  
Sho took a deep breath. His eyes got thin when he started concentrating on the face in the mirror. Sho imagined the word ‘help’ and ‘me’. He concentrated on these two words till he could see them appearing on the mirror. He scanned the face of the man, who stepped back, shocked.  
  
Sho coughed. He felt the last energy leaving his body. The wounds on his face hurt and the scratches on his back and stomach burnt like hell. He shook his head to make the dizziness disappear. He could see a second man appearing at the mirror. They seemed to talk with each other and some moments later Sho saw words appearing.  
  
Who are you? Sho’s heart beat faster. They talked with him, maybe this was his chance for help.  
  
He leaned forward against his chains and whispered. “I am Sakurai Sho.” The words showed up on the mirror. “Please help me,” he added on the mirror.  
  
Sho could hear footsteps outside his prison cell. He got nervous, he needed to be fast now. “Come on,” Sho murmured. He sighed in relieve when he saw the next question on the mirror.  
  
Where are you? Sho could hear the keys in the door turning. “ No time, Ninomiya’s shop of magic horror.” Sho thought and waited till the words appeared. He whispered a few words and the faces on the mirror vanished. Sho hoped that these guys would search for Ninomiya’s shop. He was the only one who was able to help Sho, the only one who knew about Sho’s ability and his enemy. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 


	2. Chapter 2

Jun looked up at the blinking letters above the store. Ninomiya’s magic shop of horrors was written on there. They were far outside Tokyo and Jun had the feeling that they were somewhere in the middle of nowhere. There were only a few houses around them, and except the one old man sitting in front of his supermarket, there was no one else on the street.   
  
“Seems dark in there, maybe it’s closed?” Masaki said. He stepped closer to the shop and almost pressed his face against the shop’s door window to look inside. He shrieked when the door suddenly opened and a man glanced at them.   
  
He wore a dark blue yukata and his light brown eyes showed mistrust. “Who are you?”   
  
“We wanted to visit your shop,” Jun said. He didn’t want to speak about the message they had gotten by now, because maybe they were really just imagine it.   
  
The guy pulled one eyebrow up and looked from Masaki to Jun and back. “My shop?” He finally asked. He had strong and deep voice and Jun had the feeling that this guy didn’t smile much. He looked unfriendly and angry, but in his eyes there was something restless and worried.   
  
“We found your homepage and … we search for some magic … card tricks?” Masaki said. This guy would definitely not believe them, Jun was sure about it.   
  
Jun already prepared for getting send away, but the guy sighed and opened the door a little further to let them in. “I have no idea who you are, but come in. People around don’t need to see you,” he said. He looked around outside before he closed the door to his shop behind them.   
  
It was dark inside and only some candles around the room lightened up the room. There was an old wooden counter on the other side and big shelves with filled bottles covered almost the whole room. This was definitely not a shop for some children-magic-card-trick games. A bad feeling crossed Jun’s body. Where did they got into here? He looked at Masaki, who smiled nervously. Jun was sure that his friend had the same thoughts.   
  
“Sit down.” The guy pointed at a small sofa. Jun and Masaki walked up there and did like they were told. The guy turned and disappeared behind a curtain.  
  
“What the hell is this here?” Masaki whispered.   
  
“I have no idea, but all this stuff around here, that’s … I don’t know …” Jun looked around. “Kind of scary?”   
  
Masaki agreed. “I hope he doesn’t have something bad in mind. I don’t want to die here.”   
  
Jun knew that Masaki was joking, but somehow it felt like there was a little honest fear in Masaki’s words. He gulped. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to come here. He already thought about leaving this place when the curtain moved to the side and the guy entered the room with a plate and three cups with tea and some weird looking cookies on it. Jun mused that these were self-made since their shape had been rather unformed. He just didn't know if he should eat them.   
  
"So, what are you doing here?" He asked again.   
  
"As I said," Masaki started. "We found your homepage and we are interested in magic stuff."   
  
The guy's lips turned into a short smile before he got earnest again. "See," he said. "No one finds my homepage, except you are from the other side. And looking at you -" he pointed at them, "- I am sure you are both human beings."   
  
This was definitely getting stranger. Where the hell did they get into. Jun looked at his friend, who seemed to be rather stubborn, while Jun already wanted to run away from here. "Sakurai Sho sends us." Masaki shrugged.   
  
Jun could see the guy's body stiffening and his eyes got small. "What?"   
  
"Who the hell are you?" He leaned forward, scanning them.   
  
Jun placed his hand on Masaki's shoulder when he wanted to say something. "I was in my bathroom this morning."   
  
The guy tilted his head, still glaring at him. "I am not really interested in your daily bathroom routine, Matsumoto-san."   
  
Jun blinked. Did this guy call him by his name? He couldn’t remember that he had given him his name already. “You know who I am?”   
  
The guy rolled his eyes and pointed at the bag on the ground. Now Jun blushed. He had forgotten that there was his name written on the small charm on his bag. At least this guy was a good observer. “Oh, sorry,” Jun just said.   
  
“So, tell me what do you want from me?” The guy was still cold and rather unfriendly, and Jun slowly started feeling really uneasy. “Take a cookie,” he added and handed them the plate.   
  
Wasn’t this weird? But Jun didn’t complain and neither did Masaki. They both did like they were told and took a bite from the sweet. The guy just stared at them like he waited for something to happen. Oh god – Jun let the cookie fall on the plate. “You poisoned us?”   
  
Masaki turned to look at him in utter shock and twisted the food between his fingers. The guy on the other side just laughed at them. “Believe me, Matsumoto-san, I don’t need poisoned cookies to get rid of you.” Was this a threat? Jun scanned the guy’s body. He was rather small, and he didn’t look that strong, but his eyes told Jun that he really didn’t want to annoy him.   
  
The guy’s lips turned into a mischievous grin. “But you are right, these cookies weren’t just normal cookies.” He looked from Masaki to Jun. “Let’s say, if you’d have had bad intentions, you wouldn’t sit here anymore.”   
  
“You want to kill us?” Masaki shrieked.   
  
The guy just waved his hand. “No, no. I just …” He looked at the ceiling for a moment before he turned back to them. “Days are dangerous, and I need to be prepared for whoever wants to visit me.” He leaned closer. “Where do you get the name Sakurai Sho from?”   
  
“He told us to come here?” Masaki didn’t sound too convincing at all, and the guy’s piercing look let a pinkish colour appear on Masaki’s cheeks. If Jun wouldn’t have been a little bit afraid here, he would have laughed about his friend.   
  
“He told you?” The guy wanted to know. “That’s really interesting, you know.” He stood up and walked to his counter. He pulled on a small book and walked back to the chair with it. He sat down and opened it. He let his finger wander over a certain page. “The last time I saw Sho-san was five months ago, and since then I am searching for him.” He looked up at Jun. “Aperi occulos tuos,” Jun heard the guy saying and before he felt a cold shiver running down his spine and his head started spinning, he heard Masaki yelling out, and suddenly everything around him got black.   
  
~~~  
  
“You still don’t want to talk about it?” Sho looked at the guy walking up and down in front of him. His wrists felt numb, and he was sure that he wouldn’t make it long anymore. Five months had he been in this cellar, and they had tried everything to get the information they wanted, but Sho would never give important things to his enemy. He would rather die before he’d betray his folk and with that also his friends.   
  
He looked at the guy without saying something. “You know what your silence mean?” He man asked again, and Sho just nodded. He needed to stay strong, maybe his help was already on the way, or at least on the way to Nino, who’d hopefully believe in their words.   
  
~~~  
  
Jun was on the field he had so often played when he had been a child. He was running there, and right behind him were his friends. “Stop, Jun-pon, you are too fast,” he heard Masaki breathing deeply behind him.   
  
“Hey, Jun, slow down,” Satoshi called out. He had been with them most of the time, since he had been Masaki’s brother. He was older than Jun and Masaki, but he often played with them. Jun laughed out and sped up his run, till he could only hear a single yell behind him. He turned to see Satoshi kneeling next to Masaki. He started running back to them, finding Masaki on the ground, his eyes closed and his breath far too fast.   
  
“Call for help.” Satoshi pulled on Jun’s arm.   
  
Jun started running to the street, which led to their homes. He ran as fast as possible and soon everything around him got blur and he stood in the bathroom observing himself and Masaki while they discussed the strange writing on the mirror. He saw himself writing on the mirror before everything around him got dark again.   
  
“Jun?” He felt a hand on his forehand. He blinked when he opened his eyes and the sunlight shone into his face. He lay on a bench in a rather dark room, but some sunlight from outside danced up and down his face. He looked at Masaki who seemed to be rather worried.   
  
“You.” Jun looked at Masaki, who stood up and pointed at the strange guy. Slowly Jun remembered where he was. This strange guy with his much stranger shop. “What have you done to him?” Masaki wanted to know.   
  
“As I told you,” the guy said and stepped closer to Jun a cup of tea in his hands. “I jumped into his memory to see what connects you to Sho-kun.” He sat next to Jun on the couch. “Here, drink that.” He handed him the cup. “He called for help. I can’t believe that he called you for help. A human being.”   
  
Jun took a sip of the liquid and coughed. That tasted horrible. “What’s this?”   
  
“Some herbs, nothing bad. But the taste is quite unique, I know. But drink it, you’ll feel better afterwards.” The guy smiled. His dark aura was somehow gone, and even though he didn’t seem to trust them till now, he looked much friendlier since he had been … yeah, where had he been? In Jun’s memory? Or was it Jun who was in his own memory? He didn’t know it.   
  
“What have you done with me owner-san?” Jun wanted to know.   
  
“First of all, I am Ninomiya.” He looked from Masaki to Jun. “But everyone calls me Nino.” He sighed. “You see, I search for my friend for months. He disappeared and I have no idea where he is or what has happened to him.”   
  
“Nino,” Jun said. He didn’t understand a single word about what happened around them. He took a shower yesterday and now he was in a mysterious-magic-horror-story? Was he dreaming? Jun pinched his arm. No, he was definitely not dreaming. “What are you?”   
  
Nino laughed. “Oh dear, that’s complicated.” He looked at Jun. “I am not sure if you believe me.”   
  
Masaki snorted and sat down. “We came here because of strange letters on a mirror. So don’t tell us something about ‘believe’.”   
  
“Okay, then let me explain a few things.” Nino nodded.  
  



	3. Chapter 3

“You got into something dangerous here,” Nino explained. “Sho and I are magicians and I he got caught by some evil men. I am searching for him for weeks.”   
  
“Magicians?” Jun asked. He couldn’t believe what this guy told him here. Such things weren’t possible – that were only fairytales.   
  
Nino nodded. He didn’t smile at them. He wasn’t making fun of them here? That was hardly believable. “See, we are two of the last ten magicians in this world. Our ability is a rare gift and some people would do everything to get us.”   
  
“Ten magicians?” Masaki asked. “You know that sounds quite strange to us. If there wouldn’t have been this strange writing on the mirror, I would say that you are insane.”   
  
Nino laughed. “I totally understand you, really.”   
  
“Who is this Sakurai Sho, and why did he write me a message?” Jun wanted to know.   
  
Nino shook his head. Jun could see that he was thinking about that, but probably he didn’t know it on his own. “I tried reaching him every day since he disappeared.” He sighed and stood up to walk up to a cupboard. He opened the cupboard and pulled out a crystal ball. If this guy would go to read his future with this thing now, Jun would stand up and go. He still wasn’t sure if this was just a prank from someone. Masaki looked at him from the corner of his eyes, and Jun could see that his friend thought same.   
  
Nino sat back opposite Jun and placed the item on the table. “Can you do me a favour, Matsumoto-kun?”   
  
Jun didn’t know why, but he nodded slowly. “What do you want me to do?”   
  
“Place your hand on the ball and close your eyes,” Nino explained. “Concentrate on the situation in the bathroom this morning. Think about the letters on the mirror and about your feelings when you saw them.”   
  
“Why?” Masaki asked before Jun could do it.   
  
Nino turned to Jun’s friend, smiling. “I am maybe able to locate Sho with this. See, when Sho contacts a human being, he is able to create a connection between him and the human. It’s difficult to explain how it really works, but let’s say there is a bond between Matsumoto-kun and Sho-san now, because they were in contact.”  
  
“Why did he choose Jun?” Masaki asked further.   
  
“I have no idea, because you aren’t connected to our world, but I guess that Sho isn’t in the condition to decide whom he calls. I guess that he concentrated on a bond with a human, and your face showed up in his mirror,” Nino said. That sounded really strange, but Jun wanted to believe in this. He didn’t know why, but there was a slight feeling in him that he really was connected to this strange Sho-guy. He had never seen him and he didn’t know who he was, but Jun felt responsible for his health and safety.   
  
“I think I can feel something. There is a part in me, which is more concerned about this man than I should be, because I don’t know him at all,” Jun said. He looked at Nino. Nino nodded at him knowingly.   
  
“That’s pretty normal. Don’t be afraid or worried about it. It’s nothing bad to be connected with a magician.” Nino placed his hands on Jun’s and pressed them on the ball. “We’ll leave you alone in this room now, Matsumoto-kun. You need to contact him on your own, but we are right in the next room, so if there is something, call for help.”   
  
“I don’t want to leave him alone here,” Masaki said and sat back on the couch.   
  
Nino sighed. “You can’t stay here now, …” He tilted his head. “What was your name again?”   
  
Masaki looked up at him, and Jun had to suppress a grin. Masaki’s eyes were dark and he looked angry, and he could see Nino having the same glance in his eyes. The both of them together would be really interesting, Jun thought. “Masaki, my name is Masaki.”   
  
“Okay, Masaki, we need to leave the room. We can prepare some more tea, and maybe I show you some magic tricks till Jun is done with this here?” Nino suggested and Jun could see that Masaki was definitely interested in spending time with this Nino-guy. His friend was so easy to read. Jun smiled. He placed his hands on the ball, but before he could do something he felt a terrible pain on the right side between his ribs. Jun yelled out and grasped for air.   
  
“Jun, what happened?” Masaki said worried and knelt next to him. Jun pressed his hand on the ribs and breathed out.   
  
“It hurts,” he murmured.   
  
Masaki turned his head to look at Nino, who rummaged in a drawer behind him. “Ninomiya, what happens here?” Masaki asked, his voice was anxious. Jun arched his back when he felt another pain crossing his body. “What’s this about, Ninomiya?” Masaki asked the other again.   
  
Nino came back to the couch, where Jun had lied down and knelt next to Masaki. He rubbed some herbs between his fingers and murmured some strange words Jun didn’t understand. “Eat them,” Nino said after a while. “Let me.” Nino took Jun’s hand and raised Jun’s shirt. He exhaled through his teeth and Masaki next to him shrieked.   
  
Jun felt sweat forming on his forehead. The pain seemed unbearable and he felt like burning out of sudden. His eyes flickered. He looked down his body and saw a big wound bleeding on his right side. “That’s not good,” Nino said.   
  
“What the hell did you do?” Masaki yelled out.   
  
“Nothing.” Nino raised his hands. “Listen, I think that Jun is probably much more connected to Sho than I thought it would be possible. I fear that something might have happened to Sho, and Matsumoto-kun shows the same sickness or injuries Sho has.”   
  
“And now?” Masaki wanted to know. Jun grasped for Masaki’s arm.   
  
“It’s so hot inside here,” Jun said. He heard the others talking, but he wasn’t able to think coherently now.   
  
“Okay, let me think about it.” Nino rubbed his face.   
  
“I thought you are a magician, can’t you do something?” Masaki wanted to know.   
  
“A connection between human and magician is not an everyday happening in my world, Masaki-kun. I am over 200 years old, but I never experienced something like this before. Sho and I had always been safe in the darkness, but the fact that someone found us, lead me and him into new territories.” Nino stood up. “I need to check some things. Maybe I need to make some calls. I need to find out what happened here.”   
  
“And Jun?” Masaki pointed at his friend.   
  
“You stay here, I bring you some cold, wet towels and some herbs. It’ll make him feel better,” Nino said. “I am back in one hour, I promise.” Nino disappeared from the room and came back with some items a few moments later. “You give him these herbs with some cold water every ten minutes and this one - ” He handed Masaki a bottle “- you give it to him every full hour with some of this liquid.” Nino gave Masaki a glass with a pinkish fluid in it. Jun didn’t want to know what he was about to get here.   
  
“Did you understand everything?” Nino asked while he looked intensely into Masaki’s eyes.   
  
“Yes. I will do everything to help Jun,” Masaki sounded so worried and Jun wanted to tell him that everything was okay, but there was nothing but a deep sigh escaping his lips.   
  
Nino placed his hand on Jun’s forehead. “He has fever, I am going to get help immediately, I am back as soon as possible.” Jun opened his eyes to look into Nino’s light brown eyes. He didn’t know him, but there was something in his look which made Jun trust him. Jun had the feeling that he knew Nino since forever. Maybe this was because of the connection between him and this Sho-guy?   
  
“Masaki, please stand up for a moment,” Nino said. “I want to connect myself with you. Is this okay?” Jun could see Masaki’s worried expression and his stiff body language. He was afraid and anxious and insecure.   
  
“But when it ends like the connection Jun has?” Masaki asked.   
  
Nino shook his head. “I won’t get stabbed, I promise.”   
  
“You mean that Sho-san got stabbed and I feel his pain?” Jun pressed out.   
  
Nino nodded at him. “I guess so.” He sighed. “That’s why I really need to get help. I know about the classical bond between human and magician, but what Sho did to you is … new, even to me.”   
  
“So what do I need to do to get connected with you?” Masaki asked.   
  
Jun wasn’t sure if it was a blush on Nino’s face or if his cheeks had always been that rosy. Or maybe he was already fantasizing. “Just don’t move,” Nino said to him and Jun could see Masaki’s firm nod before Nino stepped closer to close the distance between them and left a short kiss on Masaki’s lips.   
  
Jun laughed out when he saw Masaki’s cheeks flushing. “You made Masaki speechless, that’s really hard to do, Nino-kun,” Jun joked, but pressed his hand back on his body when the pain increased again.   
  
“We are connected now, when you need me, call my name, okay? I will hear you and I am hopefully able to answer to you.” Nino said.   
  
“That doesn’t sound all confident about the bond between us,” Masaki replied. “Is there something more?”   
  
Nino shook his head. “You see, bonds between humans and magicians are rare, and they only connect each other when there …” Nino paused. “Are deeper feelings between the species. You don’t connect yourself with a human just for fun.” Nino stepped back to take a small bag from the cupboard. “But this is an emergency case, we need to do everything to get Sho back from wherever he is.”   
  
Jun closed his eyes when Nino was gone from the room. He smiled a little bit when he felt Masaki kneeling next to him. “Seems you have a husband or whatever now…”   
  
“Haha,” Masaki said. “Don’t be stupid, Jun.” Jun grinned when he saw Masaki’s deep red face. “If that’s the case you are also kind of married now, you know?” Masaki’s said stubbornly.   
  
“True,” Jun said with a laugh. He felt everything around him spinning and the world got dark.


	4. Chapter 4

“You should really think about telling us about your secrets, you know,” Sho could hear the voice talking with him, but he tried his best ignoring it. He had his eyes pressed together and he just concentrated on his thoughts and the slow breath he wanted to keep up. The part where they had stabbed him with the knife burnt like hell and he could feel the blood running over his ripped shirt, but he couldn’t care less. They wouldn’t get out a single word of him. Not in hundred years he’d tell them something about his secrets.   
  
He could see some pictures popping up in his mind. So he really had connected himself with this guy in the mirror, and it was his past he was able to see now. “Wait for me, Jun-pon,” he heard a man calling in his mind. This Jun must have been his connector, and the second person must have been one of Jun’s friends, otherwise Jun wouldn’t think about him now in Nino’s shop. “We can solve this riddle, Jun. It’s us after all,” the small boy said with a pout.   
  
“No, Masaki, there is no need to solve it,” Jun cried out. “My mom and my dad are going separate ways, and dad will stay here, while I am moving with mom.”   
  
Sho could feel the child’s pain rising in his chest. It was hard to feel the deepest feelings a child had. Sho had been connected to other people twice in his long life, but he had always avoided it to get too deep in the others thoughts, but in his current condition he wasn’t strong enough to keep them from occupying him. Jun had been broken, sad and disappointed and he definitely didn’t want to go away from the place he had been. Sho was sure that he had been happy there.   
  
Sho shook his head slightly when the picture in his mind changed. Jun stood on the same street, just that he had been a few years older. “Can you remember last time we stood here?” Masaki chuckled.   
  
“You thought you need to leave this place,” another guy next to them said.   
  
“I know, I thought my parents want to divorce, just because I didn’t understand that having a fight can be something normal,” Jun laughed out.   
  
Sho could see Masaki and Jun sitting on a bench, and when the third guy turned round, Sho smiled. “So that’s the reason why I am connected to Jun,” he thought.   
  
~~~  
  
“And then I’ll cook some nice ramen for you,” Masaki said. “But first of all we need to clean the apartment.”   
  
“You are talking nonsense,” Jun breathed out. He opened his eyes a little bit to look at his friends. Nino had been gone half an hour ago, and Masaki started giving him the herbs and the tea, and he was talking nonstop, what he always did when he was afraid or worried.   
  
“I know, but I am worried, and I am … ah … I don’t know … irritated?” Masaki sighed. “Everything is so strange here, Jun. Where the hell did we get into? Maybe this whole thing is a cult or I don’t know…”   
  
Jun laughed, but stopped when he felt a pain crossing his chest. “Do you think that feeling the pain of being stabbed, without being really stabbed, can be the work of a cult?”   
  
“No, probably not,” Masaki mused. He looked down at Jun’s wound and prepared some more herbs to cover it.   
  
Jun turned on the couch and flinched when he felt a burning pain crossing his body. He could feel a strange warm feeling crossing his body. “I am tired, Masaki. I think I need to sleep a little,” Jun said while he already closed his eyes. He just heard Masaki saying something like he shouldn’t close his eyes, but it was already too late.   
“You are here,” Jun heard a voice. It was a thin and sort of weak voice. He opened his eyes. The couch was gone, and he lay on a cold stony ground. He turned and blinked some times till he got used to the rather dark room. He turned and sat up. He placed his hand on his wound when he felt the pain again, but it already got less.   
  
“Who are you?” Jun asked. He stood up and walked on the other side of the room. There was someone chained to the wall. He had a deep wound on his chest and his face was bloody. “Sho-san,” Jun breathed out. He had never seen this man before, but he felt terrible relieved that he had found him.   
  
“Jun-san, I am happy that you started searching for me.” Sho looked up at him.   
  
“Where are we?” Jun wanted to know. He looked at the door and tried opening it, but it was locked. “And how can I get you out here?”   
  
Sho shook his head. “You aren’t really here, Jun-san. It’s only your dream. I tried reaching you through your dream, because I need you to tell Nino that we are in danger. They want to get information about our security system. Tell him this.”   
  
“No, tell me where you are, Sho-san. We come and get you,” Jun insisted.   
  
“I guess it’s too late, and I don’t want to bring you into danger,” Sho explained.   
  
Jun felt anger in him rising. He could become really stubborn and hot-headed when someone wanted to discuss with him. “No, it’s not too late, or do you think that I give up now, where I already have your stabbing wound?”   
  
Sho’s eyes snapped open. He tried to move his hands, but he was not able to make big moves. “Come closer,” he said in a sharp tone.   
  
Jun did like he was told, even though he didn’t like the tone Sho used. “God, I didn’t know that I would connect you with me in that way.”   
  
“What do you mean with that way?” Jun wanted to know.   
  
Sho again shook his head. “You need to find me, Jun-san. I am caught in the world between yours and mine. Tell this to Nino.”   
  
Jun’s stomach felt like throwing up. What the hell was going on here? “Why do I have the feeling that we know each other for years, Sho-san?”   
  
Sho smiled at him. “We have a kind of bond.”   
  
“Nino connected himself with my friend by …” Jun was sure that he blushed now.   
  
“By a kiss?” Sho asked, earning a nod from Jun.   
  
Sho laughed out loud which turned into a cough when pain seemed to overwhelm him. “I never thought that Nin-chan would do this again, but it’s nice to see that the little brat learns to open up again.” Sho turned a little. “I connected myself with you through your writing. It cost more strength than actual body contact, but there was no other chance to get your attention. And beside that you are kind of a medium, Jun-san. You are able to open up to miraculous things.”   
  
“Me?” Jun asked. He had never believed in magic, nor did he try something like this.   
  
“You may not know it, but your friends are special,” Sho explained. He turned to the door when there was a noise outside. “You have to wake up now, Jun-san. But please come a little closer.”   
Jun didn’t know why, but he did what Sho asked him to do without thinking about it. He stepped closer till he felt Sho’s lips shortly touching his. “We are connected for real now. You are able to contact me, but don’t do it easily, because we don’t want anyone here to know about you.”   
  
Jun nodded silently. Too many things crossed his mind right now. He closed his eyes when everything around him started spinning. He opened his eyes and was back on the small couch in Nino’s shop.   
  
Nino and Masaki knelt next to him. “What happened?” Nino wanted to know.   
  
Jun looked at his friend, who looked rather pale, and when he saw a well-known face leaning against the counter, Sho’s words suddenly made sense. His friends were really special.


	5. Chapter 5

“Have you known about this?” Jun wanted to know. He looked at Masaki intensely who first shook his head, but then nodded a tiny bit.   
  
“You know, my family had always been different, that’s why we lived outside town,” Masaki explained.   
  
Jun saw Ohno stepping closer to the couch. “You know, my brother had never been a magician, so it was easy for him to hide his real origin.”   
  
“I really don’t understand a single thing.” Jun rubbed his face. “This morning my world was perfectly fine, and now I am in the middle of a Harry Potter meets Pet shop of Horrors, meets … I don’t know … and now you come here, telling me that my best friend is … I don’t know what? A hobbit? And then there is this Sho guy who is connected with me, who calls me in my dreams, bringing me to a cellar where he is caught, and then he kisses me, and I am back here, getting to know …” Jun talked way too fast, but he felt overstrained. This whole situation could just be a bad joke.   
  
“I am not a hobbit,” Masaki sounded hurt. “I am a human.”   
  
“And Satoshi?” Jun wanted to know.   
  
“He is probably the most powerful magician we have,” Nino answered. “You said that Sho called you and you know where he is?”   
  
No, Jun wouldn’t tell something here before he didn’t get some answers. “Who are you?” He looked at Masaki and Satoshi.   
  
“My family flew from the other world to the human’s world to get away from the magician hunting. And the only way was to live in your world. That’s why we came here,” Masaki explained. “People were afraid of magicians after some of them tried erasing the human world years ago. They didn’t understand that none of the other magicians were interested in destroying anything. They started hunting them, killing them.”   
  
Nino sat next to Jun. “The folk which is still in the other world believes in us, but we needed to hide. We were once born to protect the other world from all evil, but people didn’t trust us after the betrayal of these few magicians anymore. After they had started their hunting and killing we flew. They started killing each and everyone who stepped in their way. No matter if it had been children, women, men, young and old…it didn’t matter…but soon they had caught the men who started the hunting trip and they got banned. We could go back to our world. We searched for the few people who had survived and we started protecting them, but some of the hunters hid in a world between the human’s world and our world to wait for a perfect moment to find our folk and destroy the rest of us.”   
  
Jun’s thoughts started spinning. “Do you know each other,” he asked Aiba and Nino. Both shook their heads.   
  
“I only knew that our family had to flee from there because we were special, but our parents never talked about it. We were still children, and they didn’t want to make it more dangerous for us. I just knew that we weren’t from here,” Masaki said.   
  
“I got to know that I am a magician some years ago,” Satoshi explained. “But I never told Masaki about it. We never talked about the fact that we aren’t from this world. I know Ninomiya and Sakurai from a meeting we had some months ago, because the situation got more and more dangerous for all of us, but I never wanted to pull my brother into this. He is human after all.”  
  
Jun could see a small sparkle in Masaki’s eyes. Was he jealous about it? It was definitely not the right moment to think about that now, but somehow Jun would understand his friend for feeling like that.   
  
“You said that you talked with Sho?” Satoshi asked. “What did he say?”   
  
Jun turned to Satoshi and Masaki. “He told me that you are special, Masaki. That maybe you and your brother are the reason he chose me. Maybe he wanted to choose you instead, and I was in the bathroom, while you should have been there.”   
  
Masaki shook his head. “No, that’s definitely not true.”   
  
Jun tilted his head. How could Masaki be so sure about it? “Wait, you knew about this possible connection?” Jun asked.   
  
Masaki scratched his head. “No, not really,” he sighed. “You know, I am a human, I wasn’t allowed to know anything concerning magicians. My parents wanted me to stay away from our real life as far as possible. I just knew that my brother is special, and that we aren’t from here.” Masaki touched Jun’s thigh. “But I was astonished when those letters appeared, really. I had no idea, I promise.”   
  
“But why are you sure that he didn’t want to connect himself with you?” Jun asked. He could see Masaki looking at his brother, who shrugged but finally nodded. Nino next to him just stared at the ground.   
  
“You know the time when you thought your parents wanted to go separate ways?” Masaki asked.   
  
Jun nodded slowly. Did he really want to know what Masaki would tell him now? Till now everything was alright, and now his life was upside-down. “You know…they are friends of our parents, and they … they flew together. Just that they didn’t have a magician in their family. They flew because they were afraid that something might happen to you.”   
  
Jun laughed out loud. That could only be a bad joke. “You mean that I am also a part of this strange world somewhere … anywhere?” Jun looked from one to the other. “And you think that’s why he chose me?” That could only be a bad joke. “If this is a prank, Masaki, I am going to kill you.” Jun looked at his friend, but there was no sign in Masaki’s body language that he was lying to Jun.   
  
“Jun, can you tell us everything about this place you have been in your dreams?” Nino placed his hand on Jun’s shoulder. “Maybe we can find out where Sho-kun is.”   
  
Jun felt his hands shaking. This was far too much for him, and his wound was still burning like fire. He could feel sweat forming on his forehead and he blinked when his sight got blur. “It’s … a little bit too much, you know?” Jun said.   
“Yes, we understand that, Jun. Just hold on for a few minutes and tell us about your dream, and then you’ll get back to bed,” Satoshi said.   
  
“He told me that he is in a world between the other world and the human world?” Jun asked, and when he saw the others nodding at him, he continued. “It was a cellar with just a small window on the other side and a locked door. I heard some noises outside, but I couldn’t hear anything.”   
  
“Did you look outside of the window?” Nino wanted to know. “Did you see something there?”   
  
Jun shook his head. He leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “Wait,” he finally said. “There was something else. Something I first didn’t see.”   
  
“What was it?” It was Satoshi talking to him now.   
  
“There was a sign on the door. It was just a small rune on the door. It looked like a cross with a salamander sitting on the sheath.” Jun didn’t know why he suddenly remembered about it, and somehow he wasn’t even sure if this was his memory he was talking about right now. He closed his eyes and everything started spinning. He grasped for Masaki’s hand, which was still on his knee. “Wait, there is more, I can see more things.”   
  
“That’s not possible,” he heard Nino’s voice, but it sounded already far away and Jun slipped into a world he had never been before.   
  
“Welcome.” He turned to see Sho smiling at him.


	6. Chapter 6

“Welcome?” Jun asked. He looked around. He had no idea where he had been. He was sure that he was asleep again, dreaming that he was at this place, but why was Sho here and what did this all mean?   
  
“Oh, I am sorry. I thought it would be better to meet outside the cellar,” Sho said.   
  
“You can flee from there on your own? Why didn’t you call Nino then?” Jun wanted to know.   
  
Sho smiled at him. “I am sorry for bringing you here.” He guided Jun to a bench. “I could make them giving me a sleeping pill. Don’t ask how I had to act that they had finally given in. Without this pill I wasn’t able to get anywhere, because my power almost left me. But since you told me that you had the same wound and pain I felt, I needed to see you again.”   
  
Jun sighed. Could this day be over soon? This was really worst. “So, what shall I do?” He didn’t want to sound overall unfriendly because he knew that it wasn’t Sho’s fault that he was here. Okay, it was partly his fault, but only because Aiba and Satoshi were no humans. Or Aiba was but Satoshi wasn’t … or … Jun didn’t know. He suddenly felt so tired, and his thoughts were overwhelming him.   
  
“First of all you should understand the whole situation,” Sho explained. “How much do you know already?”   
  
“You mean the fact that my friends are … I don’t know, what are they? And that I am not a human either, or I am a human, but I am not from earth, or I don’t know?” Jun huffed. “I think I don’t know anything at all.”   
  
Sho nodded at him. “Okay, I try to answer your questions. But first of all, listen closely.”   
  
Jun blinked. “Okay,” he said.   
  
“You got hurt because of me, and I fear that you’ll get hurt again when they do something to me. So it’s necessary that you find me. Tell Nino following words when you wake up: East-end to west-end in the middle of trees and flowers, born by Yuri and Haruko.” He made a pause. “Memorize these words and tell them to him, okay? He’ll know where I am.”   
  
Jun nodded. “East-end to west-end in the middle of trees and flowers, born by Yuri and Haruko – I memorize that.”   
  
Sho smiled at him. “Good.” Jun could see some scars in Sho’s face, and some bruises were definitely not older than a few days. But they must have happened before they had been connected, because otherwise Jun would feel them too. Jun raised his hand to stroke softly over one of the bruises in Sho’s face. God, what was he doing here? He didn’t even know this guy, but he felt responsible and bond to Sho.   
  
“Sorry.” Jun pulled his hand away.   
  
Sho shook his head. His eyes suddenly turned from dark and somehow hurt to light and warm. He seemed different for a moment, like he was able to let go and rest for at least some moments. “It’s okay.”   
  
“Can you tell me now why this all happens to me?” Jun asked. A small breeze brushed Jun’s face and he could hear the birds singing above him in the big tree. This would be the perfect place to relax and have some rest after a long day, but sadly Jun knew that this wasn’t real. This was just his dream.   
  
“You already know that we were hunted and that we had to flee and that there are only a few people left, who followed us and who are now in great danger, because we aren’t at their side anymore?” Sho asked.   
  
“Yes, I know about that. And I know that Satoshi is a magician, and Masaki is … I don’t know … what is he? And I am from your world too?” Jun wanted to know. He had hundreds of questions running through his mind, and he wanted to ask them all at once, but he waited patiently for Sho’s answer.   
  
“Okay, you know that there are only a few magicians left. Nino, Satoshi and I are three of them. Masaki is a human with special senses. Did you realize that he always knew when you felt sad, angry or happy?” Sho wanted to know.   
  
Jun had never thought about it, but … yes, Sho was right. Last time Jun had come home after a long, hard and annoying working day, Aiba had already waited with a good big cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream and a chocolate cake. And when Jun had gotten the new job, Aiba had already prepared a party for him. “You mean, he senses the feelings other people have?”   
  
Sho nodded. “Yes. And you, Jun.” He made a pause. “You are …”   
  
“What?” Jun asked after Sho had made another pause.   
  
“I am not sure,” Sho said. “You aren’t human, that’s for sure, but we aren’t sure if you are a magician or not.”   
  
He should be a magician? No, that couldn’t be. He was perfectly normal, there was nothing special about him. “Me? I think you’re wrong.”   
  
“No,” Sho shook his head. “You were able to answer me through the mirror, and humans can’t do this.”   
  
“Maybe it was Aiba who did this?”   
  
Sho shook his head again. “No, he is too much of a human, he isn’t able to communicate in this way. Aiba has other abilities, but that’s not possible.” Sho looked at Jun and his intense eyes made Goosebumps appearing on Jun’s skin. He just didn’t know if he liked the way Sho looked at him, or if he should get afraid of him. “And there is our connection.”   
  
Jun tilted his head. “Yeah, but Nino and Aiba are also connected.”   
  
“True.” Sho smiled a little. “But Aiba wouldn’t be hurt if Nino gets hurt. This kind of connection is really rare. And I’ll only saw it once when two magicians connected themselves to each other. The bond they shared made them become one person. Every feeling one had was transferred to the other. Every pain one felt, the other felt too. And so on.”   
  
So that meant that Jun would feel everything Sho felt, and way round? “I can feel your fear now.”   
  
Jun blushed. “I am not afraid of you, it’s just … this whole situation makes me running mad?” Jun closed his eyes. He tried to concentrate on a feeling, on something he could cling to, and there was suddenly a feeling crossing his body. It was fear combined with hope and energy. “Is this your feeling?” Jun asked and opened his eyes to look at Sho.   
  
“Maybe, yes. Since Aiba and you got back to Nino, it seems that we are able to hope again,” Sho said. “At least if you manage it to get me out of this cellar.”   
  
“We’ll try everything to get you back, I promise.” There was this feeling that he knew the other since forever again. Was this really only their connection or was Jun already liking the other even though he didn’t know him at all. When Jun concentrated on the feelings again, he could sense a small vibration in his belly. It was like butterflies, or maybe like a small sparkle of liking. Was Sho feeling same?   
  
“You are nervous?” Sho smiled.   
  
“And you are … I don’t know I have the feeling to throw up every moment,” Jun grumbled.   
  
“I think I start waking up,” Sho suddenly said. He pulled on Jun’s arm and before Jun could react he again felt Sho’s lips on his. This time the kiss was longer and more intense like the first one had been. There was much more feeling in it, and the butterflies in Jun’s body got more and more.   
  
When Sho broke the kiss, Jun was sure that he was crimson red. “We are already connected,” Jun said.   
  
“I know,” Sho grinned. “It’s just because I felt like doing this.” Jun could see Sho dissolving slowly. “Please find me.” It were the last words before he was gone again.   
  
Jun looked around. And how would he get back to Nino’s store now? “I want to wake up,” Jun said, but nothing happened. He stood up and walked through the big garden. There was a beautiful house with a garden around it. Various flowers and trees bloomed around there, and the sun sparkled in a small pond right next to the house. Jun looked at the name written next to the house. “Matsumoto …” Jun whispered. Was this his old home? Was this the place he was born?   
  
“Jun,” he heard someone calling from the bench he was sitting at right before. “Here you are.”   
  
“Aiba? Nino?” Jun was astonished. “How did you come here?”  
  
“There was only one place Sho would bring you to,” Nino explained.   
  
“And you knew it was Sho, because?” Jun asked.   
  
“You said his name in your dream.” Aiba grinned. “I could feel that you were with him.”   
  
Jun’s eyes got smaller. “You felt it?” He stepped closer to his friend, ready to scold him. “You FEEL it?” Jun laughed out hysterically. This was really nothing someone would believe easily.   
  
“I think you know that I am a little bit sensitive, when it’s about feelings from others?” Aiba asked. He looked at the ground like he didn’t dare to look at Jun directly.   
  
“Yeah, somehow, and this whole situation is getting more and more confusing. I don’t know what I shall believe or not. And what this whole mess is about.” Jun sat at a small bench next to the pond. “And why are you here now?”   
  
“I thought that there is only one place Sho would lead you in sleep. It’s this place,” Nino replied. “And in the end it’s the only place he knew that I would be able to get to.”  
  
“I really don’t understand a single word anymore.” Jun raised his hand and brushed through his hair. “Why don’t you visit him, and why did he chose me, and what’s this crap about that I am a magician?” Jun breathed out. “Can’t you solve your problems on your own.” He glanced at them. “Maybe together with this barometer of mood?” He pointed at Aiba. Yes, he was angry, and he didn’t want to hurt his friend, but he was far gone from being able to keep calm.   
  
He could see Aiba’s eyes sparkling. He had hurt him, he knew it. He wanted to say something, but Nino started talking before he could. “Long ago, Sho and I hid a communication stone here. We somehow knew that you’d be back with us. It’s a way we could keep connected, but the problem is, that with him being caught in this cellar, and probably set under drugs, he isn’t able to come here on his own. He needed someone to be connected with – someone strong. And that’s why he chose you.”   
  
“But you are a magician on your own. Can’t you connect yourself with each other?” Jun asked.   
  
He saw Aiba and Nino exchanging a look. “It’s … okay, Jun, don’t freak out now, okay.” Aiba touched Jun’s shoulder. “I knew about some things here. And Nino and I are …” Jun could see him blushing. “We are together for a longer time now. And it’s not possible to connect yourself with someone who is already connected.”   
  
Jun huffed. “That day starts getting better and better.”


	7. Chapter 7

“So you are together?” Jun asked. “And you never told me about a boyfriend because…?” Jun asked further.   
  
Aiba’s cheeks were red, and his eyes were nervously looking around. Jun knew the other long enough to know that Aiba felt really bad about the secrets he had hid during the last years, but Jun was also annoyed because of that, and he decided to tease Aiba a bit – in the end he knew he couldn’t be all over mad with him, because it was Aiba after all. No one could be mad with him, because he didn’t want to do anything bad to anyone.   
  
“You know,” Aiba started. Jun had thought that Aiba’s face couldn’t get redder, but it did. “I wasn’t allowed to say something, and I couldn’t tell you that I meet a magician.”   
  
“And you didn’t think of telling me that you meet a guy without telling me that you meet a magician?” Jun asked. No, probably Aiba hadn’t thought about that.   
  
“We meet since 4 weeks, so it’s not that long,” Aiba said.   
  
“How did you meet? Did you meet because of me?” Jun wanted to know. He didn’t want to sound like he was the main subject in this case, but everything was somehow connected to him.   
  
“Yes and no,” Nino said.   
  
„Nino visited me weeks ago to ask me about you,“ Aiba explained. “I didn’t know much at all, because you were never sending any signs that you were different.”   
  
Jun shook his head. This was far too confusing. “Tell me, Masaki, did you become friends with me because you needed to find out what I am?”   
  
Aiba blinked. He shook his head energetically. “Jun, I am at your side since we were children. Back then I didn’t even know that I am different. I just got to know about it when I we moved to the other world, and well … when certain feelings came up in me and I realized that I am able to read others feelings. But even then I didn’t know about you.”   
  
“Some weeks ago Sho had found out that there is a magician out there, and soon we found the way to you. I searched for Masaki, because I knew about him from Satoshi. I hoped that we could use his senses for finding a magician. I didn’t know that you were that close all the time,” Nino said further.   
  
“And you connected to keep contact?” Jun wanted to know. He could see Aiba’s face turning red and even Nino looked away.   
  
Suddenly Jun had to laugh. Okay, that was amusing, even though the situation still overwhelmed him. “Don’t tell me you met because you wanted to talk about me, and then you jumped each other?”   
  
Aiba scratched his head. Jun knew he had hit the point. “If this situation wouldn’t be that creepy I’d laugh much more about it.”   
  
“I don’t know how this could happen. I think I just fell … for him,” Aiba said embarrassed.   
  
Jun shook his head. “It’s okay, it doesn’t matter at the moment.” He looked at Nino. “Sho told me these words. I should tell you them, and he said you’d know what it means. East-end to west-end in the middle of trees and flowers, born by Yuri and Haruko.”   
  
Nino shook his head. “He really is in the world between yours and mine. I just don’t know how to get him out there.”   
  
Jun felt everything around him spinning. Was he waking up? No, it didn’t feel like that. He yelled out when something hard hit his belly. He felt like throwing up and soon he felt a second hit on his left cheek, where a big blue bruise appeared. “Sho,” he breathed out. That was definitely not good. “He got hurt again.”   
  
“Jun, this is your old home, right?” Aiba said. “There has to be a reason Sho wanted to bring you here. And there is a reason that he chose this place as connection place between Nino and Sho.”   
  
“You mean that he knew that he’d get kidnapped?” Nino asked. He shook his head. “I can’t believe that.”   
  
Aiba nibbled on his lip. “No, I don’t think he knew it, but I think he guessed or feared something like this could happen.” Aiba walked to the pond. He looked into the water where the sun let parts of it sparkle. Everything seemed so calm and like everything was alright. “And he had the intention that he needed to be prepared.”   
  
“Why didn’t he say something?” Nino asked. “That doesn’t make any sense.”   
  
A thought hit Jun. “Nino, did anyone know where you are?”   
  
“What?”   
  
“I mean this guys Sho is caught by. Did they know where you hid?” Jun asked.   
  
“I guess not.” Nino shrugged. “Oh, you mean that Sho knew that something would happen and he tried to keep me out of it.”   
  
“But that sounds like Sho wanted to get caught,” Masaki said.   
  
“Maybe that’s it. He knew that they hunt you, and maybe he wanted to get caught to bring this to an end?” Jun asked. Were this really his thoughts, or was Sho sending him this thoughts? Was this part of their connection?   
  
“And he knew that you are the key to this?” Nino didn’t sound convinced. “But he didn’t know that you’d come.”   
  
“No, he didn’t know that, but he hoped that we’d find the magician you searched for the last years,” Aiba mused.   
  
“And you really think that he hid something here?” Nino looked around. “But what the hell are we searching for?”   
  
“Where did you hide this connection stone, Nino?” An idea hit Jun.   
  
“In the house. In your old room,” Nino said.   
  
Jun stood up and walked to the door. He pushed the doorknob down and watched when the door sprung open. It smelled dusty inside and Jun stepped into the corridor. It was like there still lived someone, except that dust was everywhere around. His parents really seemed to have left this place in a hurry. Everything was left in a rush. Or was this just in his dream and in reality this house didn’t exist anymore?   
  
He walked upstairs where he reached two doors. One was decorated with pictures and with a small panda bear sticker on it. This must have been Jun’s old room. He opened the door and walked into the room. Jun winced when a pain crossed his head and he could feel memories popping up in his mind. “I remember about this room.”   
  
Nino stepped to him. “I guess your parents blocked your memory, but with coming back here, even though it’s just in your dream, you reactivated your past.”   
  
Jun remembered about his mother reading something for him while he slept in the small bed right next to the window. He stepped to the bed and looked outside. He could remember the view. He had watched Aiba playing outside, and he had been … jealous? “I knew you when I still lived here?” Jun turned to his friend.   
  
Aiba nodded. “Yes, we were friends since we were born.”   
  
“Why wasn’t I allowed to go out?” Jun asked. “I can remember watching you outside. And I was kind of caught here?”   
  
Aiba stepped to him, smiling. “You weren’t allowed to go out, because they already feared that you are a magician. And times were already getting worse. It was just a matter of time till we all needed to leave.”   
  
“But you visited me almost every day, even though you had no idea why I was caught?,” Jun asked. He could remember about Aiba coming by with berries and chocolate, with self made cookies and juice. He had always been there. “You felt that I wasn’t feeling well, right?”   
  
Aiba nodded. “Yes, but I liked you, Jun. That’s why I came here. It was not a burden for me to spend time with you.”   
  
A certain heat crossed Jun’s left side. He walked to the table and pushed open the drawer. There was a small stone in it together with a picture from Jun, Aiba and Satoshi back in their kindergarten times. “How old is Satoshi?” Jun asked.   
  
Aiba smiled. “He is 33 now, but he reached his maximum age. He stops growing older from now on.”   
  
“And you and Sho?” Jun asks.   
  
“Nah, don’t talk about that,” Nino said. “We are a few years older…” Nino grinned. “But if someone asks, we are 33.”   
  
Jun rolled his eyes. “Okay.” He looked at the picture again. So this was really everything true, and he was really living here? His parents had lied to him and they kept his real identity as secret? Jun didn’t know how he should feel, and if there would be chance to meet his parents, he would have gone right now. But sadly that wasn’t possible anymore. He couldn’t ask them what they had thought back then.   
  
“Why did you never say a word that we knew each other?” Jun asked.   
  
“My memory about knowing you before we left here got also blocked. I can remember about it since I met Nino.” He smiled at Jun. “Your parents really only wanted your best,” Aiba said. He placed his hand on Jun’s shoulder, squeezing it slightly.   
  
“I am not sure about that, Aiba-chan.” Jun got lost in his thoughts while looking at this picture. He could feel his stomach clenching and he felt like screaming out loud, till suddenly the feeling changed, and there was calmness and a feeling of love spreading in his belly. “Damn connection,” Jun grumbled.   
  
He saw Aiba staring at him. “I feel bad, but Sho sends me other feelings, maybe to distract me.”   
  
“You can feel his feelings?” Nino asked.   
  
Jun nodded at him. “Yes. It’s a real deep bond, I guess.”   
  
Nino agreed. “Indeed, it is. It’s the bond between magicians. It’s the sign that you aren’t only from here, there is more behind this all.”   
  
Jun turned round. “You found this place before you knew me or Aiba, right?”   
  
Nino nodded. “We searched through the old town in our dreams till we found this place. I searched for Aiba then, because there was Aiba’s name written on a book you had here. And luckily I found him, and you.”   
  
“You know that this all is overwhelming me a little bit.” Jun sat on his bed. It was really dusty, but he didn’t care. “So it seems I grew up here, then my parents flew together with Aiba’s parents because it was getting dangerous here.”   
  
Aiba nodded. “And then they raised me as normal child, while you were aware of your origin?” Jun asked, earning another nod from Aiba.   
  
“We moved in together and some weeks ago Nino contacted you?” Jun recapitulated. “And you and Sho searched for me since years and you found out about this place and you found a book with Aiba’s name in it and thought that this could be a trace?”   
  
“Yes. And in between the try to contact you, Sho got kidnapped. And we guess that he knew about this could happen,” Nino said.   
  
“But you didn’t know that he was aware of the fact that he could get kidnapped?” Jun wanted to understand this whole situation, which was still confusing to him. And maybe there was something in the happening which could help them getting Sho out of this mess.   
  
“No. He never said a word. We contacted Aiba and got him into this whole mess. Sho and I decided to place this stone here, just in case something would happen. He knew by then that Masaki and I were … connected. But he never said a word about the fear that something might happen to him.”   
  
“And one day he disappeared and you started searching for him?” Jun asked.   
  
“Yes, but he was gone. I mean, I had a feeling where he is, but I had no chance to get there. Especially not alone. And Satoshi is strong, but he is the most powerful magician when it’s about protecting our people. I couldn’t take him along,” Nino said.   
  
“So you and Aiba decided to connect me with Sho?” Jun shook his head. “But you didn’t know where he was. That doesn’t make any sense.”   
  
“I searched for Aiba, because I wanted him to bring you at my place. But before Aiba could do that, you were at my place, telling me about that mirror. I guess that Sho tried to reach anyone and he landed in your mirror, because you are a magician, even though you didn’t know it. And it was just a coincidence that Aiba is your flatmate,” Nino mused. That sounded coherent, but also really strange.   
  
“Almost 30 years I had a perfect life without any troubles. I never felt bad or got into anything dangerous, and now my life is like I had no real life. Was everything a fake?” Jun wanted to know.   
  
“No, Jun. Your parents hid a part of your life, and that was not good, but everything else is the way you chose,” Aiba said.   
  
Jun rubbed his face. “It’s pretty much for one day.”   
  
“How about we search for something Sho might have hid here, and then we wake up and I make us something to eat?” Aiba asked.   
  
“Better idea: We order something to eat. And we make a plan for further steps.” Nino smiled at them.   
  
“Sounds good,” Jun said. “It maybe sound stupid, but I am tired, even though I am sleeping right now.”   
  
Aiba laughed. “No, it’s not. Actually you aren’t really asleep. It’s kind of a second reality.”


	8. Chapter 8

Sho woke up. He could feel his cheeks burning. They slapped him again. “Hey, wake up. We want details. Where have you been in your dreams?”   
  
“I was with this beautiful girl at the beach,” Sho lied with a grin.   
  
“Don’t you dare to lie at me.” A man came closer. He had a knife in his hands, and his knuckles were already covered with blood. He slapped Sho and stepped back. “Where have you been?”   
  
“At the beach, I told you,” Sho said again. “With a girl.”   
  
The man glanced at him. “Which beach?”   
  
“Okinawa,” Sho answered.   
  
“So you want to tell me that the magician is a girl and she is in Okinawa?” The man asked.   
  
Sho nodded. He hoped this lie would give him some time. He knew that he would probably be dead when they find out that this was a trap, but he had to try it. They needed a little bit more time. Please find me – Sho just thought.   
  
“I’ll come back, and if you lied at me, no one will be around to help you.” The man got out of the cellar and closed the door behind him.   
  
They’d probably have one or two more days, but then they needed to have a way out of here. Sho concentrated on his feelings. He wanted to send Jun a small sign that they needed to go faster, but which feeling would symbolize that they needed to hurry?   
  
He concentrated on the feeling he’d have when he’d see Jun again. A warm and tender bubble rose in his belly and he smiled. Yes, that was good.   
  
~~~  
  
Jun rubbed his belly. This feeling … “Nino,” he said. “I think we need to hurry.”   
  
“What happened?” Aiba was immediately at his side. “Sho sent me a feeling. He wants to see me so badly. He was sure that it meant that they should hurry. He concentrated on a calm feeling, trying to say Sho that everything would be alright, and that they’d be on the way to get him, even though they had hardly any clue how to go on.   
  
“Okay, we need to get going. Did you find anything?” Nino asked. Both of them shook their head. “If there is nothing, we should maybe try to find another way to get Sho?”   
  
Jun shook his head. Here was definitely something for him. He needed to find out what it was. Jun looked at the ceiling. “One moment,” he suddenly said. “What’s up there?”   
  
Aiba looked up. “Nothing I guess. You didn’t have an attic.”   
  
“No, Aiba, I remember about that rainy day in August when I still lived here. There is an attic, but I was never allowed to go up there. Just when I heard my parents fighting about something, I decided to hide there.”   
  
“You remember?” Aiba said.   
  
Jun rubbed his temples. “Yes. This small picture on the ceiling. It made me remember.”   
  
They looked up. “Maybe we can break your seal, Jun. Maybe you’ll be able to remember about your whole past soon,” Nino murmured. He seemed to have an idea. “You said there is an attic?”   
  
Jun nodded. He walked to the corridor and let his hand brush over the wall. On a certain point he stopped. “There.” He pressed his hand against the wall and a door opened.   
  
“Wow, cool,” Aiba stunned. “Your parents were pretty cool.”   
  
Jun stepped into a dark corridor and walked upstairs He was careful with every step till he reached a room. It was dark, there was no window lightening the room.   
  
“Wait a moment,” he heard Nino say and after a few seconds a candle shone in the room. It was dusty and stinky in the room, but it was nevertheless beautiful. There were a bunch of pictures standing around and some personal things next to old books and a box – a small red box. Jun walked up to it.   
He touched the item and suddenly a feeling like being on fire crossed his body. “This is Sho’s,” he said. He couldn’t say why, but he was sure that this wasn’t left behind by his parents.   
  
“Okay, we take this along.” Nino took the item. “And now it’s time to wake up, Jun. I fear that we don’t have much time left.”   
  
Jun turned. “Can I come back here one day?” He didn’t know why he asked this out of sudden. Jun had never the feeling that there was something missing in his life, but maybe this was also erased like his memory of his childhood.   
  
“Yes, we’ll come back, I promise.” Aiba took his hand and they walked back outside.   
  
“How do we wake up?” Jun asked.   
  
Nino smiled at him. He opened a small bottle and let Jun sniff at it. “Yuk, what’s …” he said, but everything started already spinning around and he found himself on Nino’s couch again.   
  
Soon the other two followed him and wake up from where they had sat down. “And now?” Jun asked.   
  
“We order something to eat, and you take a rest, Jun. You really need to sleep now.” Aiba stood up.   
  
“But Sho?” He didn’t feel like sleeping, even though his eyes were already getting heavy.   
  
“We try to find out what this is and we’ll wake you up when the food is here.” Jun turned. He had totally forgotten that Satoshi wasn’t with them in the dream.   
  
“Where have you been?” Jun asked.   
  
“I needed to take care of other things, but I am here now,” Satoshi stepped to Jun. “I am here to protect you all.”   
  
Jun felt Satoshi’s fingers brushing his forehead and he felt much more tired than ever before and before he could fight against it, he had already been asleep.   
  
~~~  
  
Jun was coiled up on the couch. He still felt dizzy, and he didn’t want to open his eyes, but the smell of Pizza let his stomach grumble almost painfully. He turned on the couch.   
  
Jun smiled a bit when he saw Nino and Aiba standing in the kitchen. Aiba leaned against the cupboard. He was pale and he seemed to worry. He said something, but Jun couldn’t hear him. He argued and moved his hands till Nino wrapped his arms around Aiba, pulling him closer. Jun closed his eyes when he saw them kissing softly. He didn’t want to be a kind of stalker, but he was happy for Aiba.   
  
Jun felt a bouncy feeling in his belly. It told him that they felt same. He smiled – oh god he behaved like a teenager. He didn’t even know Sho, but he had already feelings for him? Somehow he couldn’t believe that this wasn’t because of their connection, but he wanted to believe this. Jun had always liked the feeling of being in love, especially when the other felt same, and in this case he could definitely say that Sho had the same feelings, because he felt Sho’s feelings. Gosh, no one would ever believe this.   
  
“Jun, food arrived.” He felt Aiba’s hand on his shoulder. Jun did like he had just woken up now and sat up.   
  
“Do you feel okay?” Aiba asked.   
  
He nodded. “I am just hungry, but I guess Sho is alright, if you want to know that. My wound still hurts, and there are some bruises in my face, but all in all I am okay, and I think he feels more or less alright too.”   
  
Nino smiled at him and sat opposite. “That’s good. And now eat something. You need strength.”   
  
Jun took a bite of the Pizza. His stomach got silent almost immediately. He was starving without realizing it. “Did you find out something about that box?”   
  
Satoshi had sat on the small chair next to Aiba and Nino and wrapped his spaghetti on the fork. “We can’t open it.”   
  
“Can I take a look at it?” Jun asked. He saw Ohno nodding at him.  
  
“I intended giving it to you. Maybe you are the key to get it open.” Ohno chewed on his spaghetti. Jun could see that he was tired and he had dark rings under his eyes.   
  
What could have been in this box? Was it really the way to Sho? Or did he hide something totally different in there? “Where is the box?” Jun asked.   
  
Ohno pointed at the window sill right behind Jun. He took the box and stroked over it again. He tried opening it, but nothing happened. “Hm, I don’t know. Maybe it’s not from Sho? Or it’s not meant for me?”   
  
Jun twisted the item in his hands. “There are letters on it. Believe in your feeling, feel what you believe.” Jun breathed out. Was this a riddle? Believe … feeling … “Oh,” Jun said out loud. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his feelings for Sho. He trusted him, he believed in him. And a second later Jun could feel the feeling being returned and with a loud pop the box opened.   
  
“The solution was that you feel that you believe in Sho and he returned it?” Ohno asked. “That’s amazing.”   
  
“Satoshi, I already told you to stop mind hacking,” Aiba said angrily.   
  
Jun blinked. “Wait, you can read my thoughts?”   
  
Satoshi grinned. “I normally don’t do it, but I couldn’t resist, sorry.” He looked at his brother. “Don’t be afraid, I stopped hacking your pervert thoughts. I don’t want to see you and Nino doing each other in your mind any time again.”   
  
Aiba’s cheeks got red, and Nino’s had almost same colour. “You are stupid, Sa-chan,” Aiba grumbled.   
  
For a moment Jun had to laugh out loud. And for this single moment everything was alright. He felt good and small joyful jumps appeared in his chest. He could immediately feel a feeling in return. Sho thanked him for this positive feeling. “We need to find him soon.”   
  
Jun looked at the opened box. There was a golden feather in it. “What’s this?”   
  
Nino almost jumped up. “Oh my god, he had this all the time and he didn’t tell me? I am so going to kill him.”   
  
Satoshi stood up and sat next to Jun. He let his finger brush over the feather. “I haven’t seen this in reality ever before. I thought it got lost during the war.”   
  
“What is this?” Jun said again. He wasn’t interested in any historical stuff, at least not now. He wanted to know how he could get back Sho with this thing.   
  
“With this feather you can manipulate people,” Satoshi said. “Not everyone is able to use it. You need strong magic power for it.”   
  
“And that can help to get Sho out there?” Jun asked.   
  
“Yes, as a part of a bigger plan, it’s an important tool,” Satoshi explained. Jun twisted the feather in his hands, but nothing happened. He didn’t feel strange, nor did the feather something to him or the others.   
  
“A bigger plan?” It was Aiba asking this time, and Jun was happy that he wasn’t the only one who had no idea about anything.   
  
“The feather is able to control people, and then there is another – I don’t know how to call it – maybe artefact. It’s a necklace which let everyone forget about everything with a touch. So if we are able to control the men who capture Sho, we are able to make them forget about their plan, and even about who they are,” Nino said.   
  
“That really sounds … Harry Potter like?” Jun said. This whole thing was really strange. “And you searched for this?”   
  
“Not exactly. We just knew that we needed to find the magician, I mean you, and Sho said that he had a plan. I didn’t think that this was his plan,” Satoshi rubbed his chin.   
  
“Is Sho something like your master mind?” Jun asked. Slowly he had the feeling that Sho was the one who planned everything, and Jun just hoped that they could get out of this mess without Sho.   
  
“Yes, he is the one who knows most about fighting a war and Satoshi is the one who is in charge of protecting people from war and other attacks. And I am the one who coordinate things,” Nino explained.   
  
“You coordinate?”   
  
“Yes, I have something like a computer in my head,” Nino chuckled. “I don’t even need all this internet-hacking stuff. I can do this with my mind. I am able to see house structures in my head, and I can exactly tell where everyone moves in a house.”   
  
Jun stunned. “That’s amazing. So you go with them and you can tell them when someone is approaching?”   
  
Nino shook his head. “No, sadly not. I need to stay at home, because I can’t move and concentrate on my mind at the same time. But I am often connected to Satoshi’s mind, since he is able to read minds, and so we work together perfectly.”   
  
Now Jun felt a little bit like in a special unit, just that they were magicians. “But we couldn’t defeat the men who wanted to kill us, because we needed another magician. Everything we had tried during the last years failed. We stopped trying it, because we feared about dying in another attack against them.”   
  
Jun looked at Nino. “But this time Sho is missing.”   
  
Ohno shook his head. “Not when we get him out of the cellar and make him part of our plan.”   
  
“So you want to go in the cellar, get Sho out, defeat them, and then?” Aiba asked. He looked from one to the other.   
  
“If we get the main persons behind this whole mess, there is a chance that we are able to defeat them completely,” Ohno said. “And if I am right, we might be able to get back to a normal life for our citizens and in the end for us.”   
  
Nino sighed. “It sounds so good to have a chance to finally go back to our world.” Aiba looked at him.   
  
“You want to go back to your world?” Aiba asked.   
  
Nino nodded. “And I hope you’ll come with me.”   
  
Aiba wanted to say something, but Jun interrupted him. He knew that his friend would go to discuss this now, but he could feel Sho’s nervousness and he knew that their time was almost over. “Please, can we win this whole mess before we talk about anything else?”   
  
“Jun’s right, we need to get going,” Ohno said.   
  
“Just one thing,” Jun took the feather. “How do I use this?”


	9. Chapter 9

Sho tried to fight against the chains around his wrists. They had pulled them tighter around his hands and it hurt him with every move. He just hoped that Jun didn’t feel the whole pain he felt here.   
  
Jun … Sho felt something in him jumping up and down. He was connected to this guy, but his feelings didn’t appear because of this connection. Could it be that he really started liking someone? Someone he had technically only met in his dreams?   
  
Sho looked at the door when he heard someone opening the lock. “My men are in Okinawa now, Sakurai-san. I hope they find something there, otherwise you know what will happen to you.”   
  
“It’s the truth,” Sho breathed out. “Please, don’t hurt her. She is my …” Sho stopped. He hoped he was convincing enough. He really needed them to believe in his words, at least till the others would be at his place.   
  
Sho could feel Jun’s feeling in his belly. He was excited, and frustrated and desperate, and again frustrated mixed with angry. Somehow Sho had to smile. He loved that mood swings and he already loved Jun’s explosive way of acting. Sho blinked. Suddenly he knew why Jun felt like this. He wasn’t desperate because they had no plan. No, they had a plan, but they needed to get it work. The feather … they had found it. Sho tried to suppress his smile. That was good, that was really good.   
  
“Do you listen to me?” Sho felt the man pulling on his hair to look up to him.   
  
“I am sorry, I slept in while you talked to me.” Sho grinned. The man’s grip got tighter and the man’s other hand pressed into Sho’s wound under his ribs. Sho yelled out, but he didn’t care. Everything would be alright, he needed to concentrate to send Jun the right feelings.   
  
“You’ll die, Sakurai-san, I’ll make you die.” The man turned and stepped out of the room. Sho hoped that he’d be alone from now on. He needed to concentrate. Maybe he’d be able to find some sleep together with Jun before they’d start their plan.   
  
“Jun, concentrate on something beautiful, on something you really loved,” Sho whispered.   
  
~~~  
  
Jun tried it again and again, but there was nothing. This feather was maybe broken, or he didn’t know. Jun got annoyed. He hated it when things didn’t work out like he wanted them to work out.   
  
“This thing must be broken, it doesn’t work out,” Jun cursed.   
  
“No, the item is perfectly fine. You need to concentrate on something, Jun.” Nino stepped to him. “Maybe it’s also a feeling?” He shrugged.   
  
“Hey, maybe Nino is right. Everything was based on feelings till now, maybe this is also connected to something like this?” Aiba said.   
  
A feeling? And which one? Jun had tried everything from love to desperation, but nothing happened. Jun rubbed his belly. He got a slight feeling from Sho, followed by terrible pain in his wound. He let the feather fall down on the ground and yelled out.   
  
“God, Jun, is everything alright?” Aiba knelt next to him, helping him up.   
  
“I guess Sho got hurt again,” Jun breathed out. “Someone pressed something on his wound again.”   
  
Jun sat on the couch and leaned back for a moment. He felt dizzy after the pain. “Give me some moments.”   
  
Aiba nodded. Jun could see him walking to the kitchen and he came back with a big glass of water soon later. “Thank you,” Jun said.   
  
Nino and Ohno were looking at each other, and Jun knew what they thought. He didn’t even need their words. It was ridiculous. Jun had never been someone else than Jun – a normal working guy without any special abilities. “I think I won’t be able to make this.”   
  
Jun felt a sudden tiredness overwhelming him. Wait – that wasn’t only his feeling. Sho was tired, and he sent him this feeling. Did he want to meet in sleep again. “Hey, Sho is tired.”   
  
Nino rolled his eyes. “Great, that doesn’t really help.”   
  
“No, no, that’s great.” Ohno came closer. He had same idea Jun had. “Maybe he can help you with this feather. Maybe he sends you this sign because he wants to meet you again in sleep?”   
  
Jun nodded. Yes, he was almost sure that this was the reason. “I will try to get into my dreams again. Maybe he has a solution for me and this thing.”   
  
Aiba rubbed his hands nervously. “I hope you are right, Jun. We don’t have much time anymore.”   
  
“I know,” Jun nodded. “I will be back in a few minutes, I promise. And we’ll going to save Sho. I promise this.”   
  
Jun leaned his head against the backrest and closed his eyes. It didn’t take him long to slip into his dreams again.   
  
~~~  
  
Jun was back in front of his old home. He looked around, but first there was no one, but just a second later he could see Sho running up to him.   
  
“I don’t have much time, Jun.” Sho was out of breathing. “I’ll wake up any moment. Listen, you need to think about the most precious moment in your life and you’ll get the feather’s power.”   
  
“But I have no idea what’s the most precious moment in my life,” Jun said, afraid that he would never be able to activate this item.   
  
“I can’t help you with that, because we all have different memories, but I have faith in you,” Sho said. He already started fading again. He smiled at Jun, his hand placed on Jun’s cheeks, brushing over Jun’s skin. “I’ll wait for you coming to get me.”   
  
“We’ll come, I promise.” With that Sho was gone again, and Jun could feel the area fading. He opened his eyes and saw Nino with this horrible liquid in front of his nose.   
  
“You woke me up?” Jun said.   
  
“I heard you saying that we’ll come to Sho, so I guessed that you were ready to get back here.” Nino shrugged. “Beside that, we don’t have much time.”   
  
Ohno leaned closer. “What did he tell you?”   
  
Jun sighed. “It’s not getting easier. I shall remember about my most precious moment in my life.” He rubbed his face. “But what is it?”   
  
“There are so many moments I remember about,” Jun said. He looked at Aiba and Ohno when a sudden thought hit him. “Wait, I maybe have a guess.”   
  
He took the feather and twisted it between his fingers. Jun tried to concentrate on a special situation in his life and suddenly the feather in his hand started vibrating. Jun bounced up and down. “It works, it works.”  
  
“That’s great, try it,” Nino stood up.   
  
Jun grinned evilly. “I am able to manipulate people now? And I can make them do what I want them to do?”   
  
Ohno nodded slowly. He seemed to guess that Jun had nothing nice in his mind. “Aiba-chan, grab Nino’s butt.”   
  
“What???” Aiba yelled out. Jun could see him fighting against moving, but he couldn’t. He was forced to do what Jun wanted him to do, and soon his hand landed on Nino’s butt.   
  
“Oh, if this whole mess is over, I am going to love teasing you with this thing. Just because you didn’t tell me about this here, Masaki,” Jun smirked.   
  
Aiba’s face was red and he just shook his head. “Not fair,” he grumbled.   
  
“That’s wonderful,” Ohno chirped. “I mean that this thing works out, and not your hand on Nino’s butt.”   
  
“Haha,” Nino pricked out his tongue. “How about going back to our actual business?”   
  
“Sounds good.” Jun was confident about rescuing Sho. He was sure that they’d make it, even though he had no idea what he was actually doing.   
  
“Jun, maybe you are now able to use your normal magic,” Ohno said slowly. “With this memory you are maybe able to awake your ability.”   
  
“But if that’s the case, you would have known about the power of the feather and how to use it? Because then it would be same for everyone, right? Or don’t you use your ability with a memory?” Jun wanted to know.   
  
“No.” Ohno shook his head. “It’s different for everyone.” He sat next to Jun. “I awake my power with an emotion, and Nino awakes it with a smell of a perfume.”   
  
So they really had different ways to activate their magic? This was interesting, but Jun knew he didn’t have time to ask any further now. Maybe he could do later on, when everything was alright again.   
  
“Jun, concentrate on this chain on the wall, okay?” Nino suddenly said.   
  
Jun did like he was told to. “Can you imagine it breaking into pieces?”   
  
Jun concentrated on the memory and he tried to imagine how this chain broke into thousands of pieces and suddenly a loud noise resounded when the pieces fell on the floor.   
  
Ohno had his mouth wide open. “Okay, I guess your power is awake now.”   
  
His power was awake now? Did this mean that he was a magician now? Or that his power was free? What could he do now? Was he able to do every hocus-pocus he wanted to do? Jun tried to concentrate on the dried flower on Nino’s table, but nothing happened. He could see Nino smiling. “I guess you tried awakening the flower?”   
  
Jun nodded. “You can’t bring dead things back to life, Jun.” Ohno smiled at him. “You aren’t able to give life with your power, and you aren’t able to kill someone with it.”   
  
“It sounds like a kind of protection?” Jun said. It was a pity that he wasn’t able to do this, because he wanted nothing more than bringing his parents back to life, but maybe he had already guessed that this wouldn’t work out this way.   
  
“Yes. Life ends when it has to end, and it starts when it has to start,” Nino explained.   
  
Jun understood. He tried concentrating on something else. Soon he had changed the curtains colour from yellow to pink and even Nino’s couch was switched into a strong pinkish colour. Jun chuckled. “That’s perfect for you.”   
  
He could see Nino glancing at him. “Thank you.” He rolled his eyes. “How about concentrating on our actual mission?   
  
“So, how are we going to do this?” Aiba asked.   
  
“I don’t think I’ll be a great help,” Jun said. “I mean, I don’t know my power, and I don’t have an idea what I am able to do.”   
  
Ohno shook his head. “We don’t have time to think about every possible power you might need. I am not sure, but I think the best thing is if you rely on your feeling.”   
  
Jun pulled one eyebrow up. “And you think that…” He stopped. “Oh, you mean I should rely on Sho’s help?”   
  
Ohno nodded. “Maybe he is able to guide you.” He rubbed his chin. “Since you are connected, and you seem to understand each other through feelings.” He nodded. “Yes, that might work.”   
  
“I’ll stay here to give you advises concerning the enemy’s position,” Nino said. “Satoshi will read my mind, and I am connected with Aiba, I can give him hints.”   
  
“So you are also connected with feelings?” Jun wanted to know.   
  
“No, not exactly,” Aiba said. “Nino can speak with me when he is concentrating on me. And I can talk to him, but it doesn’t work out when I am too stressed, what could maybe happen.”   
  
“But we need to try it,” Ohno said firmly. “So, Jun you have the feather. I’ll take the necklace, and Aiba, you have the task to get Sho out of there. Jun and I will be preoccupied with manipulating them and erasing their memory.”   
  
“Wait a moment.” Jun raised his hands. “Where do we go, and how do we get there?”   
  
“The world between yours and ours is connected with a door. We’ll get through this and hopefully we won’t get caught immediately. That’s why Aiba goes first. If something happens, we still have the magicians here to give the plan another try,” Ohno said.   
  
“That sounds like I am not really worthy,” Aiba whined. Jun could see Nino’s hand around Aiba’s and Aiba just smiled.   
  
“If we’re there, we let Nino guide us through the corridors. It’s our task to get the way free for Aiba. He’ll search for Sho’s cellar, and try opening the door. Afterwards we meet at the door between the worlds again. And with a bit of luck we’ll be back with Sho in safety and everyone alive.” Ohno didn’t sound overall positive about that mission, but probably he was right. Jun was inexperienced and Aiba didn’t have any more experience than Jun had. If something went wrong, they’d probably run in circles and in the end no one would come back alive.   
  
“I hope I don’t do anything wrong,” Jun said. A sudden nervousness spread in his belly. He could feel it mixing up with a feeling of being protected. “But Sho’ll help me.”   
  
Nino looked at him. “Can I talk with you alone?”   
  
Jun nodded. He followed Nino to the kitchen. Nino moved nervously. “Listen, if there is something going wrong, I have a last plan for you, but it’s dangerous, and hardly anyone had ever tried it.”   
  
“Tell me,” Jun said.   
  
Nino nodded. “I will.”


	10. Chapter 10

Sho smiled when he woke up. They had a plan, they’d come to get him. He could feel Jun’s nervousness and the fear of failing, but he knew the other would make it. The last magician which was missing, was described to be to strongest among them, the one with the most powerful will to do things. There was no one better to save him than Jun.   
  
Sho could hear footsteps outside. That didn’t sound good. He could hear voices talking with each other before the door got open. “You lied to us,” the man screamed. “And you’ll get your punishment now.”   
  
Sho needed to get time. If he’d be beaten up now, he couldn’t help Jun. “No, I didn’t lie. Maybe she already fled. I was there, look at my pocket,” Sho said. He had just one last chance. It was his last joker, after this last chance he was probably dead.   
  
The man pulled a bracelet out of Sho’s pocket. “Matsumoto Aya?” He asked.   
  
Sho nodded. “She’s the one. Can you feel the magic in the bracelet?” The man nodded. “That’s the proof, isn’t it?”   
  
The man came closer. “Where is she?”   
  
Sho shrugged. “I guess she hides. Maybe she is in our world. Maybe in the small town in the south.”   
  
The man grabbed Sho’s collar. “I pray for you that she’s there … otherwise I am sick of listening to your lies.” With that he disappeared. God, they had one hour – maybe less.   
  
~~~  
  
Jun stepped through the door behind Ohno and Aiba. The world looked like their world, just that there were huge fields and ruins around them. “What happened here?”   
  
“No one lives here, actually,” Ohno explained. “The citizens left this country centuries ago to live their life either in your world or in ours. There are only ruins left.”   
  
Jun looked around. The landscape was amazing, but it was hot and dusty. “The air is pretty dusty.”   
  
Ohno nodded. “Yes, the world breaks down step by step. There are only the hunters here, but I guess sooner or later this world won’t exist anymore. The last hunters are around here, and if we are able to destroy this world, we are able to destroy our enemy.” Ohno didn’t sound overall sad about it, and Jun wondered if this happened often that worlds break down. “No, it’s just this world. But this world was built for people who committed crimes, so it’s not that bad that this comes to an end.”   
  
Jun blushed. Okay, Ohno was still reading his thoughts.   
  
“Over there is the place they hide. Nino tells me that there are two guards outside, and three are sitting around a table right behind the entrance,” Ohno said.   
  
“Nino says that one of them is moving,” Aiba said. “He is in a small room next to the entrance. And he is leaving now together with two others. So there are three men all in all. But we don’t know how many are inside.”   
  
“Jun, you have the feather?” Ohno asked, earning a nod from Jun. “And you think you can handle the situation?” Another nod from Jun.   
  
He could feel Sho’s strength in his belly. Yes, he was able to do this. He let his important memory appearing in his mind before he started walking towards the entrance. “Let’s do this.”   
  
Jun saw the men there looking at him. He had the feather in his hand and when he opened it, the feather was hovering over his palm. He concentrated on the men, but when one of them started heading towards him, Jun felt nervous. His stomach clenched, but there was immediately the strength in him spreading again. “Thanks, Sho,” he whispered.   
  
He concentrated and soon the men stopped and knelt on the ground. Ohno ran up to them, using the necklace with moving it in front of their eyes, while he said some kind of spell. The men blinked and lie on the ground, coiled up and obviously asleep. “They are deep asleep now, and no one will be able to wake them up.”   
  
“There is one more person inside,” Aiba said. “In the room over there,” he pointed at a small window next to the entrance.   
  
“I’ll go,” Jun said confidently. He smiled when he felt Sho’s strength spreading in him, and he was glad that Sho helped him, because he alone would have probably run away already. He stepped into the building and shrieked when someone approached him from the left. “Who are you?” Jun turned, the feather still hovering above his hand.   
  
“Your boss,” Jun said. “And now go back into the room, lock the door, and let no one inside.”   
  
“Yes, master,” the man said and closed the door, like he was told to do.   
  
“Amazing,” Aiba said. “I need something like this,” he laughed.   
  
Jun rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, that’s a good idea to use this in private life…”   
  
Aiba grasped his arm. “Two more at the end of the corridor.”   
  
Jun nodded. He walked up there and he felt like nothing could ever stop him, and he felt that he got closer to Sho, that they weren’t far away anymore. “Stop,” he said and the men didn’t move anymore.   
Ohno passed him and let the necklace swing in front of their eyes again. They sank on the ground and slept. “They won’t remember anything later on – if they’d wake up anyway.” He nodded and got up again.   
  
“There is no one around on this floor,” Ohno said. He looked at Aiba.   
  
“Agree. Nino told me same. But there are three men in the cellar, and Sho behind a metal cellar door,” Aiba explained.   
  
“Then let’s go and don’t waste any time,” Jun said.   
  
“Yes, we should hurry, there are five men approaching the ruin, and when they’re here we need Sho already, because they are the stronger ones – there is one magician between them, and two men who aren’t human, but they aren’t magicians either. One of the them is the boss, he is the one giving the orders,” Aiba repeated what Nino told him.   
  
“Okay, then let’s get Sho out of there,” Jun suggested. They made their way downstairs and Jun and Ohno took care of the men, while Aiba started fumbling with the cellar door. Jun could see him cursing, but then Aiba pulled something out of his pocket and soon the door had a big hole in the middle. Aiba turned and gave Jun a thumb up before he climbed into the room.   
  
Jun let the feather slip into his pants when he was done with the last man and followed Aiba to the cellar room. He could hear Ohno still talking with the men. He probably tried to get something out of them, or he was still hypnotizing them. Jun didn’t listen carefully at all. He was about to meet Sho in real, and not only in his dream, and his heart made some jumps. He smiled when he felt Sho also getting nervous about it.   
  
“Damn thing,” Jun heard Aiba cursing. He looked into the room and saw Aiba fumbling with a kind of key, just that it was a golden … ball. “Oh, that’s it.” He smiled and pressed the ball between his fingers before a key popped out of it. He opened Sho’s chains and let him free.   
  
Sho stumbled forward and Jun was quick enough to get a hold of him. “Hey,” Sho whispered. He looked terrible.   
  
“Hey,” Jun replied. Was he going insane, or was Sho much more beautiful than he had been in his dreams? God, what was he thinking here. They needed to get out of here.   
  
“Come, we need to go,” Jun said. He helped Sho stepping out of the cellar where Ohno already awaited them.   
  
“They told me that there is a rune keeping this world existing, if we find that rune and destroy it, they’ll disappear with it. And we’d have the problem solved,” Ohno suggested.   
  
“But first of all we need to take care of the men who entered the ruin … now,” Aiba shrieked.   
  
“They are back,” Sho breathed out. “We need to get out of here. They are back to kill me.”   
  
“What shall we do?” Aiba asked.   
  
“Who…” Jun turned when he saw three men approaching him. He raised his hand with the feather, but the man already had pulled Jun’s arm to the side, and he wasn’t able to move anymore. “… are you?”  
  
They were definitely strong, and Jun could feel that even Sho didn’t know what to do. This was probably the reason they hadn’t won against them till now. They were terrible strong, and there didn’t seem to be a way to get rid of them.   
  
Jun tried moving, but he was not able to make any step. He turned to Sho, who glanced at the men. Sho wasn’t in a good condition, but even if he would have been, he probably would have failed. Jun remembered what Nino had told him. “If you are in a hopeless situation, there is one last chance. You are able to connect yourself with Sho in a special way. You are able to become one. But only use it when you have the feeling that there is no other way. It’s dangerous and maybe you won’t be able to wake up afterwards.”   
  
This was a hopeless situation. He could feel Sho’s panic, and Sho didn’t even panic when he the men came back to tell him that the lied to them. Jun closed his eyes and soon everything around him got blur and he was like falling in a deep sleep, just that he still heard them all talking.   
  
~~~  
  
Sho felt the power in him increasing. He looked at Jun who had his eyes closed. This was a stupid idea, even though it was probably the only one helping. He stepped forward, nodding at Ohno, who understood immediately.   
  
“Are you able to carry Jun?” Sho heard Ohno whispering at Aiba.   
  
Aiba nodded. “Okay, then do that, and we’ll come outside in a few minutes.”   
  
Sho could see Aiba moving. He stood behind Jun and he seemed to know what to do. Probably was Nino telling him how he should react. “Now,” Sho said and he could see Aiba grasping Jun’s shoulders when he fell back and taking him piggyback before he started running outside.   
  
Sho waited a moment till Aiba was out of sight before he stretched his hands and the ground started vibrating. So that happened when two magicians connected each other completely. Sho felt a cut on his arm. He could see one of the men throwing little knives at him, and one hit him. “Oh, don’t do that,” Sho growled. He could feel the anger in him rising. “Satoshi, now.”   
  
Ohno nodded before he stepped forward and a wall appeared between them and the men. Sho pointed at the walls around the men, and suddenly they formed into something like a cage. Ohno stepped through the wall, the necklace in his hands and soon they were all asleep.   
  
“That was easier done than I thought it would be.” Ohno tilted his head.   
  
Sho nodded. “But just because I was able to become one with …” He stopped. God, that meant that Jun was asleep, and maybe he wouldn’t wake up again. What had he done? No one was ever able to wake up after such a connection.   
  
“Let’s go,” Ohno said, pulling on Sho’s arm. They reached the field and right behind a tree they saw Aiba kneeling next to Jun.   
  
“Jun,” Sho breathed out. “Is he still sleeping?”   
  
Aiba nodded. “I don’t feel anything, Sakurai-san. He is emotionless.”   
  
Sho knelt next to Aiba and took Jun’s hand in his. He had already seen a lot of things, and he had solutions for almost every sickness – magic or not – but this was nothing he was able to cure. Jun’s hand felt cold and lifeless.   
  
“Who had this stupid idea doing this?” Sho yelled.   
  
“It was Nino. But he says that there was no other chance. One of the men was about to reveal his magic, but Jun’s action irritated them and you had the chance to fight them,” Aiba said.   
  
“And now? We need to get him back.” Sho leaned closer, his hand stroking over Jun’s cheek. No, he had definitely never felt like this before. This wasn’t the connection, this was pure. Did he believe in love at the first sight? In a dream? No … he didn’t, at least not till now.   
  
The feeling in his belly grew, and he knew this wasn’t only his feeling. “Jun’s in me.”   
  
Aiba and Ohno blinked at him. “I know, this sounds stupid, but I can feel his feelings in me.”   
  
“Wait, wait, wait,” Aiba raised his hands. “Nino, can you remember what you told me last time we spoke about feelings and my ability?”   
  
Sho looked at Aiba. Was he going insane here? Of course he knew that Nino was able to communicate with Aiba, and that they were connected, but what had Aiba’s ability to do with Jun?   
  
“Okay, listen,” Aiba said. “I maybe have a solution for this. But I don’t know what will happen to me afterwards.”   
  
“That’s ridiculous,” Ohno hooked in. “We need to find a way where no one is in danger. If you help Jun and you die afterwards, we don’t win anything.”   
  
“But you need Jun to destroy the rune here, that’s the way you can close this world and save your world,” Aiba explained. “I am not the most important part here.” He looked down at Jun.   
  
Sho would do everything to rescue Jun from this, but sacrificing someone else who was close to them, and who’d probably be close to Sho one day? “There has to be another way.”   
  
Aiba shook his head. “It’s okay, really.” He looked at Jun. “I don’t know, I am really calm right now, so let’s do this before I start freaking out, okay?”   
  
Aiba knelt next to Sho and took his hand in his. With the other hand he took Jun’s hand. He closed his eyes and soon Sho could feel a part of him fading. It was like Jun’s feelings started wandering. They left him and got to Aiba where he probably guided them back to Jun.   
  
Jun’s eyes got open and he moaned when he tried to sit up. Sho smiled. “Look, Aiba, he is alright. And you are …” He turned.   
  
Aiba smiled, but he was fading. “Bye, bye,” he said till he was gone completely.   
  
“No,” Sho heard Jun crying out loud. 


	11. Chapter 11

Jun sat up and tried grasping for Aiba’s hand, but he was already gone. “What have you done?” He asked Sho and Ohno.   
  
“He brought you back,” Sho stunned.   
  
“But he is gone now.” Jun was angry. He didn’t want his friend to give his life for him. That wasn’t what he wanted. He knew what he had done was dangerous, but he had decided to do this, but Aiba hadn’t.   
  
“We need to destroy this world, Jun. And you are the only one who’s able to do this, that’s why Aiba sacrificed himself. He knew that we needed you,” Sho explained. “Let’s get this done and we’ll think about Aiba afterwards, maybe there is a chance for him.”   
  
They got up and Sho pulled on Jun’s arm, who just stumbled behind him. He had lost his best friend, Aiba died for him. How should he live with this burden? He didn’t want that, Aiba …   
  
Sho turned to him, taking Jun’s face between his hands. “I understand your feelings, Jun. But please, please concentrate till we are done with this and we’ll start searching for Aiba afterwards, I promise this to you.”   
  
“Is he alive?” Jun asked. He could feel some tears running down his cheeks.   
  
“Probably yes …” Sho made a pause. “I have an idea.” He placed a kiss on Jun’s lips and pulled him along. “You got me an idea. But first of all we need to take care of this world.”   
  
Jun could clearly feel Sho being nervous, but there was also a plea in his feelings. The plea to believe in him, and Jun tried it. He had faith in Sho, he’d bring Aiba back when he promised doing this.   
  
They reached a small cave where they stopped. “You just need to touch the rune together with us, okay?” Sho said.   
  
Jun gave him a nod and they walked into it, where they found a statue with a rune on it. They stepped to the stone and Ohno, Sho and Jun touched the statue together. They could feel a small earthquake, followed by a bigger one. “Okay, let’s head out of here,” Satoshi said.   
  
“We need to get back to the door to the other world. This world will disappear soon,” Ohno said, already running outside.   
  
Jun and Sho followed him till they reached the door, which was close to the ruin. “You go, I will be back in a few minutes.”   
  
Jun felt his heart pounding against his chest. “You can’t … the world breaks down.”   
  
Sho smiled at him. “Trust me, I’ll be back in a few minutes, I will return to you, I promise.” He stepped closer and pulled Jun into a tight embrace before he turned to run to the ruin.   
  
“Come on Jun, let’s get out of here,” Ohno said. “He’ll be back in a minute.”   
  
Jun didn’t want to leave this place, but he let himself being dragged back to their world. They landed in Nino’s garden, where they had opened the door to the now destroyed world. Nino was already waiting for them, running up and down nervously.   
  
“Jun, Ohno,” Nino said. “Where’s Sho?”   
  
Jun looked at Nino, who seemed to have cried, but he also didn’t seem to want them see his sadness, so Jun decided not to say something. “He said that he needed to get something,” Jun explained.   
  
He stared at the door, which got smaller and smaller. The world behind it was about to disappear, and it wouldn’t need more than a few minutes till everything would be gone. Jun’s nervousness rose. Where was Sho? He wanted to step back into the door, but he knew Ohno and Nino would never let him do this. “Where the hell is he?” Jun said. He started running up and down in front of the door and his panic rose when the door was only high and bright enough to slip through it.   
  
“Out of the way…” Jun heard a voice and suddenly Sho jumped out from the door, before it closed completely.   
  
“Sho,” Jun breathed out. He knelt next to Sho and helped him sitting up. “I was afraid that you wouldn’t make it here in time.” Jun pulled Sho closer and for a moment they just sat there, embracing each other.   
  
“I’ll wait inside,” Nino said with a sad smile. Jun wanted to stand up, but Ohno raised his hand.   
  
“Stay here. I’ll go to look for him.” With that he followed Nino into the house.   
  
Jun turned back to Sho, who smiled at him. “I thought you wouldn’t come anymore.”   
  
“Is it strange to say that I think I am in love with a man I’ve only met in my dreams,” Sho asked with a smile.   
  
Something in Jun’s belly jumped up and down, and mixed with the same feelings Sho had, it really felt like throwing up. He bent down and kissed Sho, memorizing every second of this moment.   
  
When Jun dissolved he could see Ohno sitting next to Nino in his living room. Nino’s eyes were red, but he fought against Ohno’s hand on his shoulders. He definitely didn’t want to be pampered by the other. Maybe he feared that he’d break down completely when he’d let this happen. “Sho, you said you have an idea about Aiba.”   
  
Sho nodded at him and opened his hand where he had the small bracelet he had given the men to guide them on a wrong way. “I am not sure if it works, but we maybe get him back with this.”   
  
“How? And what are we waiting for, let’s go,” Jun said, but Sho pulled him back.   
  
“No, we need to rest. I think we don’t have enough power to do this now. At least I haven’t,” Sho smiled apologetically. Jun looked down on Sho’s body. He could see various bruises and cuts and when he concentrated on his own body, he could feel the bruises too.   
  
Jun was torn between resting and going straight to search for Aiba. “But I want to get him back.”   
  
Sho took Jun’s hand and squeezed it. “And we will, just give me one night and day to rest. I need something to eat and a lot of sleep.”   
  
Jun agreed. He had to admit that he felt terribly tired too and he wanted nothing more than taking a shower and falling into a bed.   
  
They got up and walked to the living room, where Nino brushed away some almost drained tears from his cheeks. “I am so glad you are back, Sho-chan.” He tried to smile, but Nino failed.   
  
Sho sat next to his friend and brushed his hair. “Nino, I think there is a way to get back Aiba.”   
  
Nino looked at him with eyes wide open. “Really?”   
  
Sho nodded. He looked up at Jun and smiled. “I don’t think he is really dead. It’s more that he dissolved, and he is caught in the world of shadows. You know that, don’t you?”   
  
Nino blinked. “Yes, of course.” He stood up, running around in the room searching for something. He returned with an old book and sat next to Sho again. “A human with ability, who gives his life to someone who is under a connection-spell, might return if the way to the world he is stuck in, is broken. The human being is caught in a world belonging to the magician he sacrificed him to. He is stuck in an item or a plant which is connected to the magician and his most precious memory,” Nino read out.   
  
He looked at Jun. “I seriously don’t understand a word,” Nino said.   
  
“Me neither.” Jun looked at Sho.   
  
~~~  
  
Sho smiled at them. He took the bracelet and placed it on the table. “Do you know this?” He waited till Jun looked at him. He slowly shook his head.   
  
“It’s yours,” Sho explained. “Your most precious memory, what is it?”   
  
Jun blushed a bit. “My mom. She died when I was ten, and I miss her …” Sho could see Jun gulping. He wanted to embrace him, telling him that everything would be alright, but they needed to get through this before they’d have time together.   
  
“So your mom is your memory, and this bracelet.” Sho pointed at it. “I got it from your home.” He took it again and placed it in Jun’s hand.   
  
Jun twisted it and looked up. “Matsumoto Aya,” Jun read out loud. He was close to tears. “It’s my mother’s name.”   
  
“So, if we combine the text with the things we have …,” Sho mused. He stepped to Jun to take the bracelet again. “…the bracelet which is connected to the magician, who was brought back by Aiba. And the bracelet is connected with Jun’s memory.”   
  
“So we just have to destroy it and Aiba should return to us?” Nino asked.   
  
That was the problem, Sho wasn’t sure either. “I’ve never done this, or heard about that someone tried it. I definitely need to do some research, but I guess I’ll find something. I just can tell you…” Sho knelt in front of Nino, placing his hands on Nino’s knees. “…he isn’t dead. And we’ll get him back.”   
  
“Maybe we all need to rest for today. It was far too much,” Ohno said, and he was right. And beside that Sho was already starving, and he was sure that Jun felt same, because his hunger feeling wasn’t the one of one person.   
  
“I’ll drive home and come back tomorrow,” Jun suggested, but Nino immediately jumped up.   
  
He came closer, pushing Jun and Sho through the corridor to stairs. “I prepared rooms upstairs, you don’t have to drive home today. Please, be my guest.”   
  
“After having something to eat, I’ll really appreciate a bed,” Sho laughed. He felt better after they got to know that there was maybe a chance for Aiba to return. He just hoped that he’d really find a way.   
  
~~~  
  
Jun felt full. He had eaten too much – damn feeling-thing. He had really eaten for two people. He heard a knock on the door and got up to open it. Sho stood there, smiling at him. “Can I come in?”   
  
Jun nodded and stepped to the side to give Sho enough space to walk into his room. Sho sat at the border of the bed. “Thank you so much for saving me, Jun-kun.”   
  
Jun shook his head. “It’s okay, I guess. I just … don’t understand what happened to me.”   
Sho laughed. “Oh, I can imagine this. Especially after your parents …” he didn’t finish the sentence.   
  
Jun smiled at him. “It’s okay.” He sighed. “I just want Aiba to return. He is at my side since … I am able to remember I guess.”   
  
Sho brushed Jun’s hair. “We’ll get him back.”   
  
Jun wanted to believe in Sho’s words, and his belly – or maybe Sho’s – told him that it was okay to believe in Sho. “What will happen now? Will you be able to go back to your world?”   
  
“I don’t know. Nino and I talked about going back some time ago, but that was before you and Aiba entered our life.” Sho let his finger brush over Jun’s face, causing Jun’s skin to feel terribly hot. “We didn’t decide yet. But we need to go back for at least some time to help people recover from these circumstances. We need to check our citizens.”   
  
“I want to come along,” Jun suddenly said. “I want to follow you.”   
  
“You have a life here, Jun.” Sho looked at him intensely, but Jun knew what he wanted. He had decided about that, and no one would change his mind, and beside that he was sure that Aiba would go with them, he knew his best friend, because even though they were different, they agreed in things like that.   
  
“No. I decided about that.” Jun knew how stubborn he sounded, but he wouldn’t discuss his decisions with anyone.   
  
“Okay, okay,” Sho laughed. His face came closer till Jun could almost feel Sho’s breath on his face.   
  
“But let’s discuss this later, okay?” Jun wanted to complain something, but when he felt Sho’s lips on his, his senses went blank he just leaned into the feeling.   
  
Jun felt Sho all over him kissing down his neck, touching his body in a way no one had touched him before.   
  
Jun moved against Sho when he slowly entered him. He had had some relationships before, but he had never felt like this. This was definitely different from just having sex with someone.   
  
Jun snuggled against Sho when they came back to bed after taking a shower together. “I really hope Aiba is alright,” Jun suddenly said. For just some moments he was able to forget about the whole mess, but now everything came back up in him much stronger than it had been before.   
  
“I am sure we will bring him back.” Sho left a kiss on Jun’s forehead. “I just need some sleep, and then we’ll go and get Aiba back.”


	12. Chapter 12

Jun woke up early in the morning. He turned in the bed, but Sho was gone. He looked around finding Sho sitting at a table with some books around him. “What are you doing?” Jun asked.   
  
Sho turned to him, smiling. “I think I found something.” He took the book and came up to the bed. He sat next to Jun and opened the book. “Look.”   
  
Jun took the book and started reading. “It’s possible to destroy the bracelet with something personal from the magician and a special tincture of various ingredients.”   
  
Jun looked at Sho. “Okay, we can take one of my things and then let’s do this.”   
  
Sho shook his head. “No, it’s not any personal thing. It must be connected to this bracelet. So, this bracelet is the connection between you and your mother.” Jun nodded at him. “So we need something from your mother, something you got from her, or something which makes you thinking about her.”   
  
Jun didn’t have something he connected especially with his mother. He thought about all the stuff he had in his apartment, but there was nothing they could use. A sudden thought hit Jun. “Sho, if we go back to my old home, maybe I’ll find something there. I mean, last time I was there, I remembered about my past, maybe there are more memories buried inside me, and maybe there is something which I got from my mother.”   
  
Sho nodded at him. “That sounds like a good idea.”   
  
“Then let’s go,” Jun stood up and started changing his clothes. He got up and took his clothes before he disappeared in the bathroom. He so hoped that they’d get his friend back. He really didn’t want to live a life where he was aware of the fact that someone had given his life for him.   
  
“I’ll wait downstairs,” Sho said, his head appearing at the bathroom door. He smiled at Jun and stepped closer, his hands wrapping around Jun’s waist. “Thank you again for everything.”   
  
Jun turned his head till he could look into Sho’s eyes. “No need to thank me.” He placed a kiss on Sho’s lips. “No, wait, you have to thank me, every night.” Jun giggled. He felt Sho’s belly jumping up happily. And he was sure Sho felt his feelings in return. They didn’t need any more words, and just smiled at each other, before Sho left him to go downstairs.   
  
“Be prepared, Aiba-chan,” Jun said, looking into the mirror. “I will so scold you for doing such a stupid thing, when I have you back.”   
  
~~~  
  
Sho went downstairs, where he could already hear Ohno and Nino in the kitchen. He was sure that Nino hadn’t slept any single second last night, and he could just guess that Ohno didn’t sleep much more either. He could hear them talking to each other. “There has to be a way to get him back, Nino.” Ohno’s voice sounded sleepy.   
  
Sho stepped to them, finding them with a big cup of coffee, sitting at the table. “I think I found a way, but I am not sure if it works out.”   
  
Sho placed the book on the table and pointed at the text he had found. “It’s maybe possible to destroy the bracelet by using a tincture and another personal item Jun had gotten from his mom.”   
  
“And Jun has something else from his mom?” Nino asked.   
  
“Not by now,” Sho explained. He got to the counter and got himself some coffee. “But Jun and I will go back to his old home.”   
  
“You mean in your dreams?” Ohno asked, but Sho shook his head. “No, we need to go there for real this time.”   
  
Ohno nodded. “That sounds like a good idea to me. What do you think Nino?”   
  
Nino shrugged. “Dangerous times seem to be over, so I don’t see any problem by going back.”   
  
Sho took a sip of the coffee. “That’s good, because we need to go together. I can’t make this tincture on my own. I think I will need some help with it, and Nino you are the best when it’s about these things, and Satoshi, you can help Jun finding an item? I think he needs to search for something strong, and you are the one who learned to unblock memories, right?”   
  
Ohno looked up at him in utter surprise. Sho smiled. “I already guessed that it had been your father blocking Jun’s mind when he had been a child, right?”   
  
Ohno sighed. “Why do you know?”   
  
Sho had always had a good feeling for people and their character and their secrets they tried hiding from others. “I don’t know. You once told me that your father was that kind of magician, that’s why he had been important for our enemy, and that’s why they had killed him after he had left you, right?”   
  
Ohno twisted the spoon in his coffee and stared at it absent-minded. Sho knew he had gotten the point. “It’s okay,” he just said.   
  
“Jun’s family didn’t want him to know about everything. My parents often fought with Jun’s about it, because my parents always wanted Masaki and me to be aware of what we are, and where we came from. But Jun’s were different,” Ohno explained.   
  
“And that’s why your father did this to me?” Sho turned when he heard Jun talking.   
  
~~~  
  
Sho stood up to bring Jun a cup of coffee and placed it at the table next to his cup. Jun walked up to them, sitting down next to Sho. “I want to know everything, please,” he said.   
  
Ohno leaned back. He had his eyes half closed, like he had to think about everything properly. “Your parents flew together with mine, but that you already know. After they had come to this world, they decided to block your memory. As I said,” Ohno sighed. “They thought different. So my father did this. After our enemy had become stronger, they had searched for my father.” Ohno’s eyes got teary. “Maybe you remember that one day he wasn’t at home anymore and they made us believe that he is on a working trip?”   
  
Yes, Jun could remember. It was a few months after he had thought that his parents would divorce. He had wondered back then, why Masaki was so crushed when his father was just on a trip. “You knew it back then that he got caught?”   
  
Ohno nodded. “My mother never kept a secret from us.”   
  
“And he died?” Jun didn’t know if he was allowed to ask this, but Ohno didn’t seem to care about that question.   
  
He nodded. “Yes, I guess so. He never came back after all. After my mother was alone with us, we tried to move on as normal as possible. And a few years later your parents died in this accident and you became part of our family. And the rest you know already.”   
  
“Were my parents killed?” Jun asked. He could feel his heart beat increasing.   
  
“No,” Ohno shook his head. “It was just an accident.” Jun didn’t know why, but that calmed him down. He didn’t want to think about his parents being killed by someone.   
  
“And you said your father blocked my memory?” Jun asked. “And my power?” He added.   
  
Ohno nodded. “But when you came back to your old home, the wall in your mind broke down. You started to remember about things and your power slowly came back, even though you had no idea what to do, you used your power like you had always been aware of it. That was amazing, and I think that was the reason your parents blocked everything. They knew that the enemy would run after you when they’d find out that you are probably one of the strongest among us.”   
  
“And going back for another time could make everything come back to my mind?” Jun asked.   
  
Ohno smiled at him. “I am not sure, but since I got the power my father had, I can at least try to untie the knot which keeps your memory away from you.”   
  
Jun looked at Sho and Nino. “Good, let’s go then.” For his surprise no one complained about going straight to their old home and they followed Jun outside.   
  
They walked into Nino’s garden and Ohno stretched his arms together with Nino and Sho till a big kind of door appeared in front of them. Jun could see his old home like through a window and he started walking up to this door slowly. “Go through it,” Sho said with a smile and Jun did.   
  
He found himself right in front of his old house and the small pond. It was the one he had been in his dream, and it looked exactly same, just that it felt a little bit different. Jun was really there this time after all. “Let’s go inside?” Ohno suggested.   
  
Jun turned to look at Nino and Sho, who were a few steps behind Jun. “Go, we need to find some ingredients for the tincture.”   
  
Jun nodded. He got a little nervous, but Sho’s feelings of being strong and save covered his own insecurity. They walked into the house and Jun started roaming through the rooms. He looked at the pictures on the wall and the small figures and statues on the cupboards, but nothing reminded him of his past. He shook his head. “There is nothing.”   
  
Ohno stepped to him. “I can maybe try something, but I am not sure if it works.”   
  
“Is it dangerous?”   
  
Ohno shook his head. “No, maybe a little painful, but definitely not dangerous.”   
  
“Okay, what do you want to do?” Jun asked.   
  
Ohno guided Jun to the couch and made him sit down. He knelt in front of Jun and took Jun’s head between his hands. “Are you ready?”   
  
Jun nodded. “Good, then concentrate on your parents, and on a single memory you have from them, maybe combined with this house. You remembered about something last time, right?”   
  
Jun again nodded. He tried to concentrate on that day he had hid on the secret attic. He concentrated on his parents and their voices. A sudden terrible pain crossed his head and he felt like fainting. Everything around him got dark and he wasn’t able to see anything. He could just feel pain and fear crossing his body, and suddenly panic came up in him, but this wasn’t his panic, it was definitely Sho’s. He tried to feel save and okay, and he hoped that Sho would get this feeling, and really, after a few seconds the panic faded. Jun trusted Ohno, and the other wouldn’t do something to hurt him on purpose.   
  
Jun wasn’t sure if he really heard Ohno yelling out, or if was just his dream. He tried opening his eyes, but at first nothing happened. He tried again and suddenly everything around him got white before he slowly started seeing everything around him again. He could see the living room and he was still on couch. Ohno sat on the ground, his head in his hands. He looked pale. “Are you okay?” Jun slipped down from the couch, next to Ohno.   
  
“Yes.” Ohno smiled at him. “That is just really tiring and my father was really powerful.” He turned to Jun. “Try to remember now.”   
  
Jun looked around. “That table …” He stood up and walked to the item. “We always ate here when I was a baby.”   
  
Jun started walking through the rooms. Slowly every memory came back to his mind. He felt better than ever before, because he finally had the feeling to be completed. He walked to the kitchen where he found an old shelf. He tilted his head. He knew this old shelf, and he knew that this wasn’t a normal shelf. “Ohno-kun, did I get back my power aswell?”   
  
“You never lost it, Jun. You already used it to get Sho back,” Ohno stepped to him. He was still pale and he took a hold of the chair to not lose the balance.   
  
“Jun raised his hand and remembered about the memory with his mother when he was a child. His most precious memory. He stepped to the shelf and let his hand wander over the shelf till a small drawer opened. Jun smiled. He took out a letter and a curl from Jun’s hair. “That’s another precious thing I connected with my mother. I can remember we placed the things here before we left. She told me that one day we’ll come back together to get these.”   
  
Ohno smiled at him. “That can work.”   
  
Jun opened the letter and pulled out a painting he and his mother had made when he was three years old. “That has to work.”   
  
They stepped outside to find Sho and Nino at the pond, a bucket with a liquid in it. It looked like water, but Jun was sure that this wasn’t only water. “Did you find everything?” Jun asked.   
  
Sho looked up at him and stood up immediately. “You got hurt?” Jun shook his head. “Ohno-kun made me remember. I think I have back all my memories and abilities now.”   
  
Sho stroked over Jun’s shoulder. “That’s good, I was already worried.”   
  
Jun smiled at him. “I know I felt it.” He was sure he blushed a bit and so he turned to Nino and Ohno. “I have the precious memory, do you have everything?”   
  
Nino nodded at him. He was visibly nervous. Jun didn’t want to imagine how he’d feel at Nino’s place. He looked at Sho, when he felt that Sho was feeling the same in his moment. “Let’s try it. What do I have to do?” Jun asked.   
  
“We aren’t sure either,” Nino explained. I guess you need to throw this thing into the bucket and after a while we need to add the bracelet?” Nino looked at Sho. “Or did I get this wrong?”   
  
Sho shook his head. “The bracelet keeps Aiba caught, and with you throwing the bracelet into the bucket with the other memory and the tincture, the bracelet loses its power – or better: the power switches from the bracelet to the new items and with that every captured person will be released.”   
  
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Jun mused.   
  
“In early days magicians loved to make experiments with others. And centuries ago there were only magicians allowed, and no humans with special abilities. Magicians saw them as danger for them. They used them in fights to get magicians back to life and captured the humans in the items. But there aren’t that many humans with abilities like Aiba’s. So they found a way to get them back to life, just to use them again,” Sho explained.   
  
“Okay, that makes more sense, and it’s cruel,” Jun said.   
  
“It was,” Sho said. “But luckily those times are over now.”   
  
“Can we please try to get him back now?” Nino asked.   
  
Jun nodded at him. He stepped closer and threw the letter with the curl into the tincture. A small plop resounded and the water turned purple before fog appeared out of the bucket. “Now the bracelet,” Sho said.   
  
Jun nodded and threw it into the bucket. An explosion occurred and the bucket shattered into thousand pieces. Jun looked around, but there was no Aiba anywhere around. “It didn’t work,” he said. “He isn’t here.” Jun panicked. Their only chance to get his friend back failed.   
  
He could feel Sho’s hand taking his. “Wait a moment,” Sho whispered. Jun could see Nino running up and down nervously. “Where is he?”   
  
Everything around them was silent, and no one of them dared to say something. Did they really fail? Was Aiba lost somewhere in another world, or was he already dead?   
  
~~~  
  
“If you bring me back from wherever I am next time, can you make sure that I don’t end up in a pond?” Aiba grumbled. Jun stared at his friend who suddenly appeared in the middle of the small pond in front of Jun’s home. He was soaking wet, and he had his hands stretched to the sides. His face was red and wet, and water dropped down his hair to his shoulders and shirt.   
Jun had to smile. He dissolved from Sho’s hand and wanted to run up to Aiba, but as he had guessed, Nino was much faster and before Jun could even move, he already saw Nino jumping at Aiba, throwing them both to the ground, getting wet again.   
  
“You’re back,” Nino yelled out. “I thought I lost you.” Jun smiled when he saw Nino placing kisses over Aiba’s face. He was sure that Nino was a stoic character, and that he was normally not the one showing big emotions in public, but in this moment Nino probably forgot being Nino.   
  
They stood up and came out of the pond. Now Jun couldn’t hold back anymore. He ran up to his friend, hugging Aiba before he stepped back, pinching Aiba’s arm. “You,” Jun said. “Don’t you dare doing something stupid ever again!”   
  
Aiba looked down. “I am sorry, Jun. But they needed you.” He smiled. “And I was sure that you find a way getting me back.”   
  
Jun felt happy and he felt happy like two people would feel. He turned to Sho, who just returned the smile. Jun was sure that their way would be much more interesting now, and that everything would be alright again.   
  
EPILOGUE 1   
  
“Jun-pon, here is the last box,” Aiba said. He smiled at Jun, who happily packed the last things. They had decided to move to the other world, but remain part of this world as well. Jun loved his work here, but he wanted to be part of the other world too. He had learned a lot about the people and life there during the last weeks, and his decision to move was happily accepted by Aiba and the others.   
  
Ohno was back in his old town to help people recover from the hunters, and slowly they started building up a new generation of magicians, humans and humans with abilities. Ohno had moved into town to take care of the citizens protection while Nino and Aiba would move to Aiba’s old house, which was next to Jun’s old home where he and Sho would move into.   
  
“I wonder how I shall get used to live without you,” Jun laughed when he saw Aiba stumbling through the apartment to get everything done.   
  
“Oh, I am not far away, Jun, so don’t think your can get rid of me,” Aiba laughed.   
  
“Oh, I would never dare to,” Jun returned the smile. “I am happy, Masaki,” he added earnestly.   
  
“Me too,” Aiba said before he started packing again.   
  
EPILOUGE 2   
  
They sat together in Jun’s – and now also Sho’s – garden to have a barbeque. “You know, I decided to work in the human world,” Sho said.   
  
Jun blinked at him. He had always thought that Sho would never leave this world to go to the human’s world. “That’s cool,” Jun said.   
  
“I decided to keep my magic shop,” Nino said. “I like this place and even though I don’t like children much, I like how they stun when I show them tricks.”   
  
Jun smiled. So they had affected the two magicians to be part of their world too. Aiba grinned at Jun. “That sounds good. We live here and work there.”   
  
Jun nodded. That really sounded good, and he finally had the feeling that this was the life he needed. He could feel Sho’s belly jumping – he felt same as Jun did, that made Jun much happier.   
  
He looked at Nino and Aiba, who looked at each other before they shared a short kiss when they thought that no one was looking at them.   
  
EPILOGUE 3   
  
Jun was already at home, thinking about what to do when he felt a certain hot feeling crossing his body. It was nice to be connected with Sho, but not when he had to feel certain feelings the other had. “Sho, stop being horny all day long,” Jun grumbled. He needed some water with ice – now. Luckily he was already at home when Sho’s feelings crossed him, and some seconds later he saw Sho coming back from work. He entered the room, grinning evilly at Jun.   
  
“You’ll so pay back …” Jun grunted.   
  
Two days later Jun decided to pay him back. He sat at their bed and smiled at the pictures on his laptop. He knew Sho had been in a meeting, and he would be so distracted now … Jun looked at the porno on screen, and it didn’t take him long to feel terribly aroused, he was sure that this affected Sho … Jun grinned.   
  
~~~  
  
Sho sat in the meeting, a certain hot feeling crossing his body. The arousal grew bigger and soon Sho had to sit closer to the table that no one was able to see that he was already getting hard. I’ll so punish you … Sho texted Jun, getting back a message with a smiley in it.   
  
Sho could hardly concentrate on what his boss talked about. He could just feel his body getting hotter and hotter, and he didn’t want to imagine Jun at home on their bed, his hands going up and down his own body …   
  
He needed to stop this now, otherwise something really bad would happen …   
  
After the meeting Sho waited till everyone was gone before he got on his way out of the building. He looked around and when no one was around he opened the door to the other world. It was a good decision to jump between the worlds, because Sho had started liking the human world and he really liked working there.   
  
He stepped to their house and opened the door. “I am so going to punish you,” he yelled and walked up to the bedroom where he found Jun already waiting for him…


End file.
